


Journey to Atlas

by WritingSanity



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, bumbleby undertones, so slow burn that it doesn't even really catch fire in this story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2019-07-17 19:51:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 121,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16102628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingSanity/pseuds/WritingSanity
Summary: In the aftermath of the battle at Haven and Ozpin's mysterious absence, Team RWBY and their friends have only have his last clue to go on - Get the relic to Atlas.Or: I wrote Volume 6 during the hiatus.Please note that this fic is tagged for bumbleby, but it's a very minor slowburn subplot.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've ever posted and definitely the longest I've ever written. The full story has been written and just needs editing, and should be roughly 20-25 chapters and over 100k words.  
> Please comment with your likes and dislikes and any general constructive criticism you have. I would love to improve my writing.
> 
> Huge thanks to my beta Kilometers (Thomsenator) for the first couple of chapters - go check their fics out.

Journey to Atlas

Ruby could feel the strain and ache in her muscles before she even fully registered being awake. Her mind was foggy as she became slowly more aware of the morning breaking around her. A wave of pain swept across the front of her skull, leaving as quickly as it came.

_ Well, that’s familiar. _

Ruby dimly remembered the ongoing headaches she’d had after Beacon’s fall; brief bolts of pain that had flashed memories of that night into her mind. Fortunately, the memories of the previous night that were slowly swimming back were significantly more triumphant than a year ago.

Voices echoed up the stairs, along with a rhythmic thumping that meant definitely someone was pacing. Probably Qrow.

Ruby tried to open her eyes, but they felt decidedly stuck this morning. She vaguely wondered if Weiss had finally had enough and glued her eyelids together.  _ I’d be so proud if she pulled off a prank like that _ . But no, she was just exhausted, and her eyes eventually pried themselves apart enough to bring the dusty ceiling into view, the orange early morning light streaming into the room through heavy curtains. Ruby dragged herself upright slowly, cradling her forehead in her palm.

Weiss was still asleep in the bed across the room, her arms draped a little more carelessly across the bed than usual. She hadn’t even bothered to change out of her bloodstained dress, and Ruby felt a pang in her chest when she remembered seeing Weiss lying deathly still in Haven’s hall. Suddenly motivated, Ruby pushed herself forward and fell noisily to her knees beside Weiss’ bed, the impact just loud enough to startle Weiss awake.

‘Ruby, what-?’

She pulled Weiss into a long, tight hug, and after a brief moment of surprise, it was reciprocated. Ruby could just make out muffled words spoken into her shoulder.

‘I’m not dead, you know.’

Pulling away, Ruby laughed. ‘You nearly were though, and that’s enough to warrant a special best-friend “we-all-survived” hug!’

Weiss rolled her eyes, but the expression had lost its malice back in Beacon and could only convey exasperated affection now. Her mood became a little more sombre, and in her teammate’s eyes Ruby could see last night come flooding back. Weiss’ brow furrowed and Ruby bit her lip, mirroring the same unease about their situation.

Weiss broke the silence first. ‘So… what now? Blake is back?’

Ruby nodded slowly, toying with the blankets on the bed. ‘Yeah, I guess so. She definitely made it sound like she wanted to stay.’

‘She may want to re-evaluate,’ Weiss scoffed as she sat up, ‘After we drop the Salem bomb on her today.’

Ruby propped her head on her palm, watching Weiss stretch out. ‘To be fair, I don’t think any of us have come to terms with it. I mean, we’ve known for a few weeks now, but there always seems to be some other fun new surprise that comes up.’

Weiss raised an eyebrow. ‘If by fun new surprise you mean dauntingly disadvantageous complication, then sure.’ She looked back down at her dress, ‘Shoot, this is ruined. Blood is supposed to be very difficult to get out.’

Ruby snorted and got up, looking down at her own clothing. They had each brought only a couple of spare items. Life on the road left little room for the luxuries of a change of clothes. ‘Maybe we go to a dry cleaner today? I mean, are we doing anything else?’

‘How should I know?’ Weiss rummaged through her bag for a second combat skirt. ‘I only just woke up as well.’ 

Ruby rubbed her eyes; the chirping birds outside their window were just a little too shrill for her headache. ‘Right, yeah. It sounds like uncle Qrow is up. I’m sure he’ll have something to say about the whole thing.’ 

‘I could use a break.’

Ruby looked up. Weiss was gazing out into space, lost in her thoughts. ‘Yeah, me too. But… We have the relic now and I think that means we need to keep going. Salem will…’ She trailed off. _Do what?_ _I feel like there’s so much we don’t know._

Weiss shook herself out of her stupor and started to change with a little more purpose. ‘Then we’ll just have to get this over with then.’ And Ruby once again couldn’t help but feel grateful that someone with as much resolve as Weiss was around.

-

Yang had been awake for a while now. She’d probably only had three or four hours’ sleep, but she’d always been an early riser and it was a hard habit for her internal clock to kick, even after a difficult night like the last.

She usually woke up with an excess of energy and struggled to laze around in bed, often to the annoyance of her roommates. But this morning, she didn’t quite know what to do, because Blake was lying in the bed opposite her, fast asleep. Yang didn’t fully know how to process that piece of information, and her usual morning energy had transformed into a sort of nervous buzz.

She guessed that she’d been awake for an hour, since the sun had first begun to break, trying to get a handle on how she felt about this unprecedented turn of events.

_ She came back. _

_ But she also left. _

Yang’s face flushed and she rolled onto her back. The sound of quiet, even breathing permeated her consciousness as she stared determinedly up at the ceiling, chewing on her lip. 

And then there was her mother.

Yang shook her head and forced herself out of bed, quietly clicking her arm into place as she stood. There was no way she was going to allow herself to dwell on Raven. Having spent the last year sitting at home and coming to terms with her own feelings, Yang could very easily recognise the well of hurt lying just below the surface; ready to plunge her into its depths with a misplaced thought.

It would be easier not to think about either of them just yet. She grabbed a towel and a change of clothes and headed downstairs to find somewhere to burn out the anxious hum under her skin.

-

Ruby and Weiss were some of the last to come down, followed shortly by Nora and Jaune. Ren sat in what appeared to be amicable silence with Oscar, who, while tired, seemed to have recovered from his fight the night before. Qrow continued to stalk back and forth in the middle of the room, deep in thought.

Nora and Jaune joined Ren where they began a hushed conversation, trying to not disturb the revolving brainstorm that was wearing tracks into the carpet. Blake was perched on the edge of a lounge with her scroll open, supposedly absorbed in her reading, but her anxious glances around the room betrayed her. Ruby sat down next to her and put on a trademark grin. Blake’s tension seemed to lessen as she hesitantly smiled back. Weiss joined them, swung a leg over her knee and sat perfectly upright in anticipation.

Ruby glanced over to where Yang was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, dressed in her training gear and covered in a sheen of sweat. She was absentmindedly fiddling with the cap on her water bottle, staring into space. Something seemed a little off about her, and Ruby resolved to determine the cause when they had some time alone. But first, Blake.

‘So… Blake,’ Blake started at her name and turned to Ruby, ‘uh, how did you sleep?’

‘Well enough, I guess?’ she shrugged uncertainly, ‘It’s not too hard to fall asleep after a night like that.' She glanced at Qrow who had started muttering to himself. ‘Are we going to talk about what happened? With the giant… Grimm… thing? Or, um... whatever that is?’ 

Ruby followed Blake’s gaze to an awkwardly shaped rucksack resting at the foot of the couch, emitting a faint blue glow. She bit her lip and looked back to Qrow, who showed no real signs of stopping any time soon. ‘Yeah, yeah we will. I just… Uncle Qrow?’ she tried to get his attention. He paused and looked over, seemingly surprised that other people had arrived. ‘Are we going to talk about our plan?’

Qrow let out a long breath, and his shoulders seemed to sag even further. ‘Well kid, I don’t know that we really have much of a plan.’ He looked at Oscar. ‘Oz isn’t really in a position to contribute right now.’

Everyone’s attention had been drawn to the conversation, and they turned to face Oscar who started to flush under their scrutiny. ‘He, uh… he’s kind of out?’

‘Out?’ Weiss asked incredulously, ‘What do you mean out? As in, he’s out of  _ you _ ?’

Oscar shook his head furiously. ‘No, no, I mean more that he’s out for the count, you know? That last battle took a bit of a toll, and I don’t think he intended to take control for so long. He seems… like he’s dormant, I guess?’

Ruby’s heart sank at the news. She glanced briefly at Blake, whose state of utter confusion was poorly masked by an attempt to match everyone else’s serious demeanours. ‘Ozpin was sort of killed by Cinder in the battle of Beacon and was kind of reincarnated into Oscar because he’s an immortal ageless being,’ she whispered, leaning over. Looking at Blake’s face and ever-rising eyebrows, she wished she hadn’t said anything. Weiss had been right. ‘Um, I’ll just leave the explanations until afterwards,’ she added hurriedly and turned back to Qrow.

Qrow pulled out his flask and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘So, with Ozpin taking a nap, we only really have the last thing he said to go on. “Get the relic to Atlas.” Which is, of course, extremely vague.’ He took a pensive sip. ‘And there are other complications with that particular plan.’

‘Atlas has closed its borders.’ Weiss nodded in understanding. ‘We would have to apply for permits, which, considering the current state of things, could take months.’

‘We don’t really have months,’ Yang finally spoke up, ‘The relic makes us a target for Salem, we can’t afford to sit still for that long.’ She’d crossed her arms and was frowning at the carpet, seeming to sink deeper into her thoughts. Ruby was puzzled.  _ Is she worried about Salem? _

Qrow snapped his fingers and pointed at Yang. ‘Bingo. We need to start coming up with plans for “alternative” entry.’ In her peripheral, Ruby saw Weiss raise her eyebrows at his finger quotes but said nothing.

‘The news this morning showed Mistral, and Haven in particular, are still surrounded by police looking into the White Fang and the attack,’ Jaune added, ‘So we might have a couple of days where Salem wouldn’t risk an assault.’

Ruby nodded, ‘Hazel, Mercury and Emerald ran off as soon as they realised Cinder was missing, and we don’t know where she or Raven are, but it doesn’t seem likely that they’d come straight back. They wouldn’t want to draw too much attention to themselves.’

‘No, they’re just more likely to wait patiently for us to walk into an ambush,’ Weiss retorted.

They all paused at the thought that Salem was just waiting and watching. The tension in the room rose a little. Qrow spoke up again.

‘I’m inclined to agree.’ They all looked up. ‘With all of you,’ he clarified. ‘They aren’t likely to attack us again immediately. They’re disorganised and there’s too much attention in this area. But they are likely to try again in future, and if Oz knows about something based in Atlas, it’s possible that Salem has the same information.’ He took a long gulp from his flask and paced over to the window, ‘We need to take our time and find a way to get to Atlas without Salem’s minions intervening.’

Ruby perked up at the hint of plan. ‘Team RWBY will investigate the airstrip! We’ll ask around about any airships headed towards Atlas.’ She was keen for any idea that allowed the team a chance to reconnect.

‘Actually,’ Blake began, cautiously joining the conversation, ‘Could we ask around the eastern entrance to the kingdom instead? Most ship-related trade comes through that way, so we might be able to ask about boats and ports outside Mistral.’

Ruby nodded enthusiastically, ‘Sure, sounds like a plan. Why there?’

‘Most of the faunus that came from Menagerie are in the industrial district nearby there, and I want to check that everyone is okay after last night. My dad might have an idea about getting to Atlas as well.’ 

Ruby grinned and gave her a thumbs up, making Blake smile in return. ‘Alright, team RWBY is going to meet Blake’s parents!’ Catching sight of Qrow’s raised eyebrows, she hastily added, ‘And ask around about ships sailing to Atlas!’

Qrow nodded in agreement. ‘Right, well kid,’ he turned to Jaune, ‘you can take your team to the airstrip. And I’ll get in touch with my network here in Mistral; find some of my old contacts. ’

‘I thought you said they were all gone?’ Yang asked, finally pushing off from the doorframe and moving further into the room. Ruby was glad to see she had shaken off some of the tension that she’d been holding.

‘The Huntsmen and Huntresses I’ve worked with are all gone, yes. But I wasn’t searching for the contacts that we’ve used to help get us transport and supplies, etcetera. I know there are still a couple who tried to help me when I was searching for allies, but honestly the numbers were pretty low. I don’t know if any of them are still active.’ Qrow scowled, and Ruby could tell he was thinking about Lionheart’s betrayal.

He turned to Oscar. ‘You’ll be tagging along with me in case Ozpin wakes up.’ Oscar nodded, and stood. Everyone else took their cue and rose as well.

‘Oh, there’s one more thing.’ Qrow lifted the relic from the floor, tossing the bag aside.and handed it to Jaune, who looked stunned. ‘You and your team will be guarding this. Don’t break it.’

‘Uh, why us? We aren’t even a full team; wouldn’t it be better with you or RWBY?’ Jaune lifted the lantern for a closer look at the details bordering the light, its blue glow reflecting on his face.

Qrow sighed, ‘Usually I wouldn’t let something like that out of my sight, but unfortunately this situation isn’t usual.’ Ruby caught the glance he shared with Yang, who deflated a little in realisation. ‘My sister has decided she wants the relic. I don’t know if it’s for Salem and Cinder or for herself. And I’m not too sure what happened down in the vault, but Raven came for a reason and that reason is undoubtedly the relic.’

Ruby felt an elbow in her ribs and turned to Blake who was wearing a very troubled expression. ‘Yang’s mom?’ she mouthed, tilting her head towards the solemn figure in question. Ruby nodded, and Blake glanced towards Yang.

‘But she and Cinder disappeared, right?’ Nora asked, confused. ‘They would be long gone by now.’

‘We don’t know where or how they left,’ Weiss pointed out. ‘They were gone before Yang got there. They could be anywhere.’

Qrow shrugged his shoulders, ‘I think we can take a pretty good guess that Raven left through a portal, and she might’ve taken Cinder with her. Maybe they fought, or maybe the vault had some kind of defence mechanism that killed Vernal.’

Ruby followed Blake’s gaze towards Yang, who was deliberately not making eye contact with anyone else in the room.  _ It must be really hard on her, hearing us talk about Raven like this. _

‘And if Raven intended to take the relic, then there’s a good chance she’ll try again, which is where you come in.’ He turned back to Jaune, ‘Raven can use her semblance to travel to me or Yang in an instant. She may use that to catch us off guard and attack, or just grab the relic and disappear through another portal before we have a chance to react.’

Blake’s expression had grown darker, but she dropped her stare to the floor, idly fiddling with the loose threads in the couch arm while deep in thought. Glancing back over at Yang, Ruby could see that her sister was trying her hardest to keep a blank face.  _ I guess that explains the weird mood she was in earlier. _

Ruby ferociously nudged Weiss and tried to subtly gesture to their teammates with a pointed stare. Weiss scowled and rubbed her ribs, but she had also noticed Yang and Blake’s respective moods. Ruby gave her a helpless shrug, and Weiss bit her lip.

‘The point is, as long as the relic is near me or Yang, Raven can get to it easily. We’re liabilities.’

‘What about now then?’ Blake asked, clearly struggling to keep up, ‘You’re both near the relic now.’

‘We don’t really have a choice when we’re all together like this. Safety in numbers, I guess.’

Ruby looked around at the group; everyone was worn down and sombre when they needed to be positive and motivated.  _ Time for some action _ . ‘Well there’s not really anything we can do about Raven, so we may as well get a start on finding a way to Atlas. Team RWBY, we’re meeting out front in ten.’

-

The path leading to the industrial district took them to the very base of the city along the edge of Lake Matsu, on a street lined with tightly packed market stalls and the cacophonous noise of a crowd. Despite their late night, it seemed that they’d woken up at a reasonable hour and it was still only mid-morning, though the sun remained hidden behind the peaks of the city’s upper levels. 

The market was in full swing. Each of the the narrow wooden stalls were draped with brightly coloured banners and tablecloths, and laden with eye-catching baubles and touristy kitsch; each table arranged to draw the gaze of passersby and grip their attention by the enormity of choice. Makeshift clothing racks were fashioned from tightly strung rope hung between the awnings of each stall, interspersed with glittering necklaces and strings of shells. Conniving shopkeeps coerced members of the crowd closer, while cawing gulls swooped at food stalls, prompting excessive swearing.

The cool sea air hit Blake’s face hard and tickled her ears, but it was a welcome and familiar change to the stuffiness of that room. Being outdoors in an environment similar to Kuo Kuana was helping clear her head. As much as she was grateful that she was back with her team, she was flying completely blind in what seemed to be a wholly insane situation. She knew she would have to speak up and disrupt their pleasant silence, but she wanted just for a moment to enjoy their company and pretend she was back in time, in their Beacon days.

So far, she knew that the White Fang and Adam had been working for some other group. That wasn’t new; she’d known that from their confrontations with Torchwick. This group,  _ led by Cinder? _ , had been responsible for the attack on Beacon, and again on Haven. She already knew that too, but still had no idea why. Taking a sidelong look at her group, she wondered if they would be able to tell her.

Ruby seemed her usual upbeat self, and Blake had a feeling that that had something to do with the team being all together again. Weiss similarly seemed calm in her pace and posture, which, considering how agitated she could get when she felt lost, was a pretty big deal. Blake couldn’t help but smile inwardly at the thought of the reunited foursome too, though she had a feeling that things between the group weren’t quite so clear cut.

Her gaze moved along to Yang, who was standing the furthest away; almost as though she’d deliberately let the other two stand as a buffer between them.  _ Is that too paranoid?  _

Blake bit her lip. Yang  _ seemed _ normal. She had her arms tucked behind her head and was looking up at the sky, absorbing her surroundings and occasionally laughing at the unsuspecting stall owners fending off gulls. She might normally have been cracking a few more jokes, but they’d had an exhausting night.  _ Still… _

Was she angry? Blake couldn’t tell. Warm nights in Menagerie had been filled with the kind of dark, anxious ruminating that spawned from a sleep-deprived, idle mind; each new fear growing from seeds of doubt planted in her mind by another long ago. Her guilt had had her imagining all sorts of scenarios over the last year, where they shunned her, or berated her, or yelled and screamed and attacked. She closed her eyes and pulled herself out of the familiar spiral. That last one was pretty unlikely, but she had still expected a little more resistance.

Ruby and Weiss had just seemed happy to have her around again, but Yang she couldn’t read. Yang was the one she anticipated being the most hurt, given their closeness, and the circumstances, and Yang’s injury, and her abandonment issues, and…  _ Stop. _

Blake reined in her thoughts before she let herself get too carried away. There was a lot to deal with and she could try and gauge the group sentiment later. First things first.

‘So, Ozpin is reincarnated into Oscar?’

They were all startled at the sound of her voice and turned towards her.

‘Yeah, I want to say I explained it badly, but that’s pretty much the gist of it,’ Ruby said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. ‘Oscar is still himself but he can sometimes… I don’t know, switch? And then it’s Ozpin talking. But I guess he won’t be doing that for a while.’

‘Right, and Ozpin is immortal. Which definitely does not sound crazy.’

‘Oh boy, that’s just the tip of the crazy iceberg,’ Yang snorted, ‘He’s actually some kind of magical wizard giving out superpowers left, right, and centre.’

_ So she’s talking to me at least. After her disappearing act this morning, I thought I might be in for the silent treatment. _ She bit her lip tentatively, trying not to let herself read too much into it.

Weiss elbowed Yang in the ribs, hard enough to make her stumble to the side. ‘Your explanation is not helping, Yang.’

‘Well you try and do it better. It’s a little too nuts for me to make any sense of.’

‘Guys, let me do it. As team leader and official spokesperson, I will be happy to answer any and all of your questions, Blake.’ Ruby gave a little bow, and Blake could tell she was trying to make light of the situation. Blake gave her a smile for her efforts, and Ruby beamed back.

Of course, Blake didn’t realise just how necessary it was to downplay the state of affairs with humour until after they’d explained it.

-

Blake gripped the barricade and let out a long, deep breath. Ruby and Yang had gone to get hot chocolate from a nearby café, but she expected it had been an excuse to give her space, once they realised she would need a minute to process the new information.

She looked out over the gentle to and fro of the ocean with bright kites flying overhead, amazed at how normal and familiar it looked considering just how unbelievable the rest of the world had just gotten.

_ Salem is the mastermind orchestrating the attacks, and she controls the Grimm. And Cinder, who put those plans into motion, is something called a Maiden with magical elemental powers provided by Ozpin. These Maidens are necessary to retrieve the relics stored in the academy vaults, which Salem wants to use for her own destructive purposes. _

Phrasing it simply was helpful for comprehending the situation, but not so much for accepting it. She didn’t even know what to do with the information that Ruby had silver grimm-freezing eyes, or that Qrow and Raven could turn into birds. She tightened her grip; the metal handrail had grown warm under her fingers. Closing her eyes, she allowed her senses to be overwhelmed by the cawing of birds mingling with the quiet lapping of water against the wharf; a salty sea spray carrying the scent of fishy air, grounding herself in reality.

Blake felt eyes on her, and she turned to face Weiss, who, thankfully, had decided to give her a minute of silence.

‘This is crazy.’

‘Yes,’ Weiss agreed, leaning back against the rail and examining her nails.

‘You were impaled through the gut last night.’

‘Hm, yes. I think I went into shock so quickly I didn’t really register the pain.’

‘Thank god for Jaune’s semblance revealing itself.’ Blake leaned back against rail next to Weiss and stared out into the busy stalls across the road. Maybe someday she would come back to Mistral. It was so colourful, even if it was only to hide a grimy city underbelly.

‘My being stabbed is not exactly the hardest part of this story to believe.’

Blake sighed, ‘No, but I don’t quite know how to feel about the rest. So much has happened…’

‘While you were gone,’ Weiss finished simply. ‘But now you’re back to stay right? Because we could really use your help with this.’

Blake looked over at Weiss, who was assessing her with a critical expression on her face. Blake couldn’t help but smile. It was just so  _ Weiss _ . ‘I’m here to stay. There seems to be a whole lot resting on this fight and it’s our job to prevent more people getting hurt.’ She turned her body to fully face Weiss and tried to layer as much sincerity into her voice as possible. ‘Besides, this is where I belong; with you guys. I feel more at home with team RWBY than anywhere else.’

Weiss narrowed her eyes and looked at her very closely, before snorting. ‘That was very dramatic. Not everything needs to be as grand as a novel, Blake.’

Blake grinned in response, ‘Hey, who knows? A story like this, maybe we’ll become another legendary fairytale to be passed down through generations.’

They watched a group of kids running between bunting flags, bumping into numerous adults. It was reminiscent of both picturesque joy and quick-fingered survival. Blake couldn’t work out which she was looking at.

‘Thank you. For having me back,’ Blake said softly. Weiss sighed in response.

‘I get it Blake; this team is my family too. And you don’t need to thank me. I’m just glad we’re back together.’ Weiss gestured to where Yang and Ruby were emerging from the crowd with their drinks, laughing as the kids nearly barrelled Ruby over. ‘But honestly, I’m not really the one you hurt.’

With that, Weiss pushed off the railing and met the others, only to immediately begin interrogating Ruby on what she’d ordered. Ruby, for her part, held up under questioning (if only just) and Weiss seemed satisfied enough with the response to accept the drink. Yang snickered at them, and for a brief second, her eyes met Blake’s.

Blake didn’t know what she was looking for in Yang’s expression; her violet eyes gave away no secrets. But then Yang’s face shifted into a cheeky smirk as she raised the extra drink in her hand and wiggled it.

Blake rolled her eyes and pushed off the rail to meet her team.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My bad for the late update, Assassin's creed came out. But I don't have too much of an excuse considering the fic is already written. I'm going to try and speed update it from now on to get as much up before the new volume as I can.
> 
> This chapter is mostly unbeta'd, so apologies for any typos or errors you come across. Let me know if you come across anything and I'll retroactively fix it.

Team RWBY came to a halt in the middle of the industrial district, just off from the east entrance to Mistral; a hub for the kingdom’s import and exports. The sea of grim, undermaintained buildings reminded Weiss of the one and only time she made a guest appearance at the Schnee Dust Company Warehouse Quarter as a child. Back then, her mother had told her that the employees were all excited to see the Schnee heiress visit them; looking back she couldn’t recall seeing a single worker among the dazzling camera flashes and scrolls pointed at her father. The memory made her jaw tighten.

These buildings were no different. All dirtied, sooty red brick, with sporadically smashed windows. Each tall enough to cover the area in a gloomy shade despite it being the middle of the day. Gentle puffs of opaque smoke were exhausted from chimneys, signposts were worn to the point of illegibility, the greying bricked road unevenly laid across the hilly terrain.  The whole district hummed with the clanging and whirring of machinery.

There was also an unusually high proportion of faunus around. She pursed her lips and glanced over at Blake, who was double checking the address on her scroll.  _ I suppose it’s an unusually high proportion relative to the upper echelons of Atlas. Blake must feel right at home. _

Among their similarities to the Schnee Dust Company, many of the buildings they had passed were all heavily guarded and securely locked. However, given Mistral’s reputation, Weiss could only assume that these were less than upstanding organisations, particularly as sirens could be heard from afar. It would be hard to imagine that anything legal was going on inside those warehouses. The thought made her frown.  _ Perhaps the same could be thought of father’s warehouses. _

‘This is the one – AH-3,’ Weiss turned to see Blake pointing at the faded lettering on the wall in front of them.

‘This is where the faunus are staying?’ Ruby questioned, assessing the building with a tilted head. It was as drab and plain as the other facilities, though it appeared its owners went to more effort to maintain the property, with recently patched window frames and freshly mortared walls.

‘My dad has a lot of community contacts among the faunus, all over Remnant. We needed somewhere large enough for a whole army to fit on short notice.’ Blake shrugged. ‘We were hoping for one of the faunus-run event centres around Mistral’s tourist districts or the community halls in the urban areas, but they were all in use.’

‘And this guy didn’t need his warehouse this week?’ Yang asked as they approached.

‘It’s owned by the Sahne Linens Corporation. Apparently there was enough space on the floor for our sleeping bags, and Lionel Sahne has delayed any major shipments out of the warehouse while we’re staying here.’ It hadn’t escaped Weiss’ notice that Blake continued to use plural personal pronouns despite having decided to stay with their team. It was clear that she still felt a strong connection to these people.

Weiss stepped aside as Blake pressed the intercom next to the pedestrian entrance, trying to hold herself stiff and upright, hands clasped before her (left over right), with the proper posture appropriate for making a good first impression. She could feel her fingers tapping anxiously against her hand despite her best efforts, and it was all she could do to not hide behind one of the others.

Ruby was bouncing on the balls of her feet and Weiss could tell she was excited to see all the different faunus types. To her right, Yang had her hands in her pocket, and was rocking back and forth casually, looking fairly curious. Blake of course was calm and aloof, which Weiss was sure was just her general state of being when she wasn’t riled up and passionate.

She fought to avoid biting her lip. This was one of few occasions she’d ever felt truly out of place and the prolonged wait in front of this door was agonising. At the same time, part of her hoped it wouldn’t open at all.

Weiss tried to brush her hair to neatly sit over her shoulder.  _ Will they know I’m a Schnee? What am I thinking? Of course they will, I have a damn snowflake on my back. Has Blake told them I’m coming? Maybe they already know. _

She opened her mouth to ask Blake, and then thought better of it. She didn’t want her teammate to think she was nervous about this. She took a deep breath to steady herself, but nearly jumped out of her skin at the feeling of something on her waist. She turned to see Ruby had apparated to her side and was giving her a one-armed hug with a bright smile that was apparently supposed to be comforting.

Weiss rolled her eyes and shoved Ruby off her before Blake noticed, but she was grateful for the gesture and could tell Ruby knew it; the dumb grin was still on her face.

The door was suddenly pulled open in front of them, and Weiss snapped her head forward. A short, stout man with equally short,stout tusks stood in the cracked doorway and looked them up and down.

‘You’re Ghira’s girl, right?’ Blake was about to respond when another a girl about the same height and age as them appeared in the doorway. Her hair was pulled back in a long brown ponytail and was wearing a black stealth suit that contrasted greatly with their greeter’s casually rolled sleeves and apron. Weiss thought she vaguely recognised her from last night.

‘Of course she is, how do you not know that by now? Blake!’ The girl’s scowl turned to a smile as she greeted Blake with an enthusiastic hug. When they pulled away, Weiss could see Blake seemed pleased to see her.

‘Ilia, hi. How are you doing after last night?’

Ilia made a dismissive motion and snorted, ‘It was barely even a fight, they basically just rolled over. I’m fine. We all are, for the most part,’ she added, gesturing back with her head. ‘Come on in, your parents said you were coming by this morning. They’ll be waiting for you.’

The group entered the narrow warehouse door in single file to a cacophony of chatter, echoing off the warehouse’ tall ceiling. Before them was a large open loading zone with that appeared to be a squishy multi-coloured carpet of sleeping bags piled over each other, snaking back into the lines of shelving and crates. The room was packed with faunus milling around, chatting and packing up their belongings. Some were sitting high up on the shelves in a manner reminiscent of Sun, while others helped carry crates to the vacant area in front of the garage door left available for the Sahne’s to run their business. There were a few bandages here and there, and most people seemed a bit scuffed and tired, but they were in generally good spirits and Weiss couldn’t see anyone severely injured. She never really saw the battle out in the academy courtyard but it seemed this new girl was right to describe the skirmish as minor, especially as it seemed the majority of these people were just civilians.

‘Ilia, this is my team from Beacon: Ruby, Weiss, and Yang.’ Blake introduced them as they walked across the floor. Ilia gave them an appraising once over, and Weiss was sure she wasn’t imagining those pale grey eyes resting on her a moment longer.

‘Ilia was my closest friend when I was back in the White Fang. She used to be a big supporter of Adam as well. We might not have succeeded without her help last night,’ Blake continued.  _ Ah, White Fang.  _ Weiss was immediately reminded of the first time she met Blake on the Beacon grounds. Cautious, watchful eyes and a hint of disdain that emerged in her tone. Weiss looked up to see this new faunus side-eyeing her, and quickly avoided eye contact, choosing instead to investigate the scuffed concrete beneath her feet. She internally cringed at the admonishment her mother would have given her for lowering her head in new company.

‘So, you’re the one who faced off with Adam in Vale.’ Weiss jumped at the sound of Ilia’s voice and returned her gaze to the group to realise the loaded comment had been addressed to a very taken-aback Yang, whose step wavered and stopped. Blake, it seemed, had abruptly lost her voice, but her widened eyes and flattened ears told a story on their own. Ruby had faltered and starting fidgeting, looking nervous. Weiss wasn’t sure if she should be preparing herself for a Yang-style outburst either. The group stood frozen for a long minute before Yang finally reacted.

‘Um, yeah.’ Yang was looking sidelong at Blake, as though trying to crack a riddle. Ilia was peering at Yang with a near identical expression, glancing down toward her right arm. Blake, for her part, took a keen interest in her coat cuff.

A hand clapped down onto Weiss’ shoulder, breaking the awkward stalemate. ‘Well hey guys! You finally got here.’ Weiss turned to see Sun Wukong, gripping her and Ruby on shoulder and looking excessively cheerful. She wrenched herself out of his grasp but it didn’t at all dampen his mood.

‘Sun!’ Ruby threw herself into a hug, ‘Wow, long time, no see. Blake mentioned you came to Mistral with her.’

He grinned and fist bumped her. ‘Well yeah. Of course I’d come for a faunus uprising. And it’s my school after all,’ he said proudly, puffing his chest out. Weiss assumed he hadn’t heard the news that his headmaster was involved in the attack, and a large proportion of the staff had been systematically killed.  _ Should make for an interesting semester for him. _

‘Hey there Yang. Ice Queen.’ He nodded at them both with a cheeky smile, and Weiss pursed her lips disapprovingly. He was once again unphased. ‘You know, I’m meeting up with my team after this. I’m sure Neptune would be psyched to see you,’ he announced with a sing-song voice.

Weiss rolled her eyes,  _ As if I have time to think about boys right now _ , but was saved the effort of responding by Blake. ‘We actually have other plans after this. We just came by to see how everyone was holding up after last night and to talk to my parents. Have you seen them?’

‘Oh yeah, they’re just out in the other loading zone at the back,’ he gestured with a thumb over his shoulder. ‘The Belladonnas are pretty keen to meet you all,’ he said, addressing the group again, ‘Blake likes to play it all mysterious and keep her past a secret, but I told them  _ all _ about team RWBY’s best adventures. Like that Atlesian Paladin. You guys remember that? That was super cool.’

‘That  _ was _ super cool!’ Ruby agreed, nodding with enthusiasm as she followed Sun’s lead deeper into the warehouse. It seemed Ruby was thrilled to have the normalcy of greeting an old friend, especially one, as much as Weiss loathed to admit it, that was as socially capable as Sun.

Weiss turned back to the others and noticed Yang surreptitiously clutch her left hand to stop it from shaking. Blake, it seemed, had noticed it too; a slight crease in her brow. Yang avoided their questioning expressions and pressed forward to catch up with Ruby and Sun, joining the conversation with a convincing attempt at matching their eagerness. ‘Did you tell them about the food fight?’

Sun grinned at Yang, ‘Man, that one was the  _ best _ !’

‘Yeah it was sick. We should do that again...’ Their conversation moved out of earshot as the three pushed into the crowd of faunus, and Weiss turned back to Blake, with an eyebrow raised.

‘You know, I specifically remember telling you that the next time something big came up, you were to come to your teammates. Not someone else,’ she said pointedly. Blake gave a small smile at the memory.

‘To be fair, I don’t ever go to him. He just seems to show up.’

Weiss pouted before letting it drop. ‘You didn’t tell your parents about us?’ She asked after a moment’s hesitation.

Blake sighed, ‘I didn’t know what to say. I don’t know how to talk about you guys without talking about… everything else.’ She stared after their friends, an anxious crease in her brow and an unspoken question on her lips.

When it appeared Blake wasn’t going to follow up, Weiss shrugged and let the subject drop, walking again with forced confidence as she approached the flock of faunus who bustled and laughed together. As she drew closer, she thought maybe some eyes lingered longer, and some conversations shifted in tone. ‘Come on, let’s go do this before Sun shoves his foot in his mouth.’

Blake matched her pace. ‘It’s going to be okay you know.’

‘What is?’ Weiss asked, playing dumb as her heels clicked conspicuously across the floor, louder than the whispers that floated around them as the crowd parted and swallowed them.

‘My parents will like you. I may not have really talked about you guys, but they’re not the sort of people to make judgements.’

Weiss met Blake’s gaze, and saw Ilia overtly avoiding her own. ‘Thank you, but I honestly don’t think I could blame them if they did.’

-

Yang’s hands were shoved deep into her pockets, toying with the seams. Ruby and Sun were discussing some inane prank Sun had pulled while he was in Menagerie, and Yang couldn’t bring herself to utter more than a few words in contribution. She could feel a nervous tingling on the edge of her skin.

It didn’t help that warehouse was filled with a loud and vibrant atmosphere; the sort that tempted Yang, coaxing her to dive in headfirst and soak up the bright, buzzing energy. It was its own brand of communal joviality that was so far removed from all of Yang’s other experiences with faunus.

All the faunus that Yang had ever known had been quiet; kept to themselves. Back in Patch, there had been one soft-spoken faunus family with a small farm. When she had been seven, her dad had brought her to their place to ask if he could borrow their truck for an afternoon. Yang remembered being fascinated at seeing the mother’s fiery red fox tail up close, if still through a narrowly opened doorway. Looking back, she wondered if her dad had brought her along to seem less threatening, because the family had eventually opened up and Tai had offered to help dig a garden bed in return for the car. They were always friendly and smiling whenever they saw her and Ruby after that, but Yang had never seen them as upbeat and expressive as this group around her now.

Huge groups of people were chatting and gossiping and laughing together, while others helped carry travel bags and passed around food. And while they all laughed in synchronicity, they also murmured. Yang could feel curious eyes on them as they walked through with Sun, and she couldn’t imagine the sort of attention Weiss would be getting.

They rounded past the last shelf and Yang saw a tall, wall of a man in deep purple, who stood at least a head higher than everyone around him. Even if Yang hadn’t seen him last night, his dark thick hair and warm eyes would have been obvious clues as to his relations. He was the centre of an attentive group, deep in discussion regarding some documentation or other that he was simultaneously cursorily reading.

She didn’t really know what to expect from this meeting. Sun had apparently spent all his time in Menagerie discussing their exploits.  _ Even the less-than-entertaining ones, _ Yang thought with a furrowed brow as Ilia’s words played in her mind. A rush of adrenaline flushed her skin as she recalled the dining hall fading to blackness, save for the flash of a red blade, and a pool of blood growing beneath Blake.

The others caught up behind them, and Sun cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed out to the crowd in front of them, ‘Hey, Mr Belladonna!’

His voice turned more that a few heads, and the tall, bearded man faltered in his conversation; releasing a long-suffering sigh and lifting his reading glasses off his face to pinch the bridge of his nose. He paused for a long while, almost as though he was counting to ten in his head, before he turned to the sound of Sun’s voice, with a dour expression. Upon seeing that Sun had company however, he brightened a little, and abruptly handed the report he had been assessing to one of the advisors around him, hurriedly gesturing for them to attend to something else with one hand, and using the other to beckon their group closer.

‘Kali! Blake is here,’ he called as they approached, his eyes keenly evaluating the newcomers with a smile that was steadily growing into a full-blown grin. ‘Blake, it’s good to see you again so soon, and with your friends.’

‘Hey, dad,’ Blake replied, seemingly a little embarrassed. To Yang, the man seemed as dad-like as her own father, so she could sympathise with Blake’s awkwardness.

‘It’s lovely to have the opportunity to meet you ladies. I’m Ghira, Blake’s father. And this is my wife, Kali,’ he said, gesturing to a short woman who had squeezed to the front of a nearby cluster of people to greet them. The woman was clearly the source of many of Blake’s physical features and was positively beaming at the sight of them.

‘Oh you’ve got company, Blake! Is this your team? Let me guess,’ Kali squinted at them, while Blake rolled her eyes, ‘This little red one is Ruby, right?’ Ruby grinned and gave a little salute. ‘Sun tells me you’re team RWBY’s hyperactive and entertaining, yet talented and daring leader.’

‘Oh well, you know, I try.’ Ruby rubbed the back of her head, both abashed and pleased at the compliments.

Kali turned to the next of them. ‘And this is clearly Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company.’ For a brief moment, everyone held their breath and Weiss’ stiff back was a hint to her wavering composure. Yang bit her lip.

‘Um, actually, it’s former heiress now,’ Weiss admitted, clasping her hands carefully in front of her.

‘Oh, really?’ Ghira asked, leaning forward with interest. Given his height, this served to only make him more imposing.

‘Yes, my father and I had a rather public disagreement, and so he’s lined up my brother as successor.’ Weiss was clearly uncomfortable airing her family business in front of other people, but Yang suspected she felt a little obliged to be honest with the faunus. ‘Most people don’t know that though,’ she added hurriedly, as though worried Ghira would broadcast the Schnee family drama on every news network.

Instead, he gently placed a hand on Weiss’ shoulder. ‘This buffoon here,’ he indicated to Sun, who merely gave a cheeky grin and a thumbs up in response, ‘has told us how bold and outspoken you are. And also how good you’ve been to Blake.’

‘Oh… I-’ Ghira waved off her response with a smile.

‘None of us are responsible for our parents’ actions. And I hope that seeing us stand up to Adam Taurus and the former White Fang has shown you and others that the faunus want what’s best for everyone.’ Weiss nodded, swallowing hard with relief.

Watching the touching exchange, Yang hadn’t noticed Kali sidle up next to her until the voice piped up beside her and she jumped in surprise.

‘And you’re Yang.’ 

Yang held the golden gaze uncertainly, heart suddenly racing. ‘We’ve heard a lot about you as well,’ Kali said simply, and rather unexpectedly drew Yang into a hug. The scent of warm spices, of nutmeg and cinnamon, wafted through the air, and Yang was inexplicably flashed with the memory of decorating her mother’s freshly baked gingerbread while they hummed holiday tunes along with the radio. The aroma only lasted for a second before Kali drew away. Yang was relieved at the parting because she wasn’t fully sure how to reciprocate the gesture.  _ What did Sun say about me? _

Kali took both of Yang’s hands but addressed the team. ‘We’re so glad to meet you all. I’m sure you’ve kept Blake out of trouble during your time at Beacon.’ Yang could feel the pressure of the firm grip on her mechanical arm.

‘Well, maybe we actually got her into more trouble?’ Ruby admitted.

Blake gently nudged her, ‘I think I was the one who got you all to hunt down the White Fang with me. We all started the trouble.’ Yang felt Kali slowly release her hands, and step back with a warm smile. Blake turned back to her parents to address the issue at hand, ‘We came by to see how things were going after last night, but it seems like there’s no serious injuries?’

Ghira cleared his throat, ‘No serious injuries, no. Only a few logistical struggles, but I suppose that’s what happens when you squash half the population of Menagerie into one warehouse. We’ve imposed on the Sahnes enough as it is.’

‘This is half the population of Menagerie?’ Ruby questioned, looking around curiously.

‘Nah he was exaggerating,’ Sun replied, ‘Menagerie is totally packed.’

Yang caught Blake’s eye, ‘That’s where you grew up?’ she asked quietly, reminded once again of how little she actually knew her teammate.

Blake nodded quickly. ‘Until I ran away with the White Fang, that is.’

‘Right.’

‘So, what are you guys doing here?’ Sun asked the rest of team RWBY. ‘Pretty weird coincidence that you happened to be at Haven Academy the same night as the White Fang attack.’ He had a knowing look in his eye that suggested coincidences of that kind didn’t exist.

‘Is it something to do with the organisation that Adam was working with? Or  _ for, _ I should say,’ Ilia said darkly. Yang exchanged hesitant looks with her team.

‘We, ah, we heard that some of the people who had been involved in the attack on Beacon originally came from Mistral,’ Ruby spoke up for them, ‘Considering our school is totally destroyed and the site of a Grimm infestation, we kinda didn’t have anything better to do.’

‘And did you discover anything?’ Ghira asked, intrigued.

Ruby bit her lip, ‘Not enough,’ she answered honestly. Yang could sympathise. The battle at Haven had raised more questions than it had answered.

‘And Adam?’ Blake redirected the conversation away from their mission, before the prying questions delved too deep, ‘Have you heard any more news about him?’

Kali shook her head sadly, ‘Nothing yet, so he’s probably gone into hiding. The Mistral Police came around here last night to check he wasn’t being sheltered among our number. They said they were coming back tonight to ask questions.’ Yang surreptitiously gripped her left forearm.

Ilia crossed her arms. ‘God knows why they would just assume we’d know anything about his whereabouts. That’s humans for you.’

Kali quietly chastised her, ‘Ilia, Blake’s friends here are lovely.’

‘If they’re coming back tonight, does that mean you’re all stuck here for a while?’ Blake asked.

Ghira stroked his beard as he surveyed the faunus around them, ‘Yes, unfortunately, they’ve informed us that this debacle with Adam and the attack means Mistral’s border restrictions are very tight right now. They’re monitoring everyone who goes in and out to see if they can identify any suspects from the attack.’

‘Are they just monitoring faunus?’ Weiss questioned, ‘Or everyone who tries to leave?’

‘They implied it would be everyone,’ Kali confirmed. The team shared a look at the news, the same thought occurring to all of them. Getting past Atlas’ border control was concerning enough, but they hadn’t considered the prospect that they would be delayed getting out of Mistral.

‘That’s not good.’ Weiss summed up the group sentiment.

‘We were…’ Blake paused and considered her sentence carefully, ‘Uh, we were planning on heading to Atlas soon,’ she explained. ‘We’re going to help Ruby and Yang’s Uncle with a mission.’ Ghira harrumphed in disappointment, crossing his arms across his chest, while Kali’s ears drooped and she let out a resigned sigh. Yang almost smiled at the universal display of parental disappointment.

‘From what I’ve heard, getting into Atlas is going be difficult,’ Ghira replied, toying thoughtfully with his beard.

‘Yeah, we’re about to head out to look for someone who will take us. If not directly into Atlas, then at least somewhere nearby,’ Ruby said.

‘I hear even that’s hard. A lot of the villages and towns around Solitas are struggling with the grimm since the Fall of Beacon. I keep in contact with a lot of faunus community leaders around Remnant, and those up North, particularly in Mantle, are saying the outskirts of the kingdom are becoming more dangerous.’ He frowned. ‘It seems even with their forces withdrawn back to the continent, Atlas are struggling to stay on top of things. Maintaining their closed border policy, protecting their smaller neighbours, sustaining their rural comms towers.’ Ghira ticked the items off with his fingers. ‘It seems messy.’

‘Every nation has had their struggle since Beacon’s attack,’ Kali replied, with a slight nervous edge to her voice.

Blake subtly shifted to stand beside her mother, resting a hand on her shoulder. ‘Maybe it’s for the best you’ll be heading back to Menagerie. The people need leadership and security.’ She turned to Ilia, ‘Will you go back as well?’

Ilia nodded decisively, ‘There’s a lot of work to be done.’ Blake smiled at her response.

Ghira stepped forward, casting a shadow over the group, and placed his hands on Blake’s shoulders. If the moment hadn’t been so sincere, Yang might’ve laughed at their height differences. ‘I’m sure you’ll make us proud on your missions,’ he said as genuinely as possible, before addressing the group. ‘You’ve got a strong team, and I’m glad you’ve surrounded yourself with people who are willing to put everything on the line for you.’ Yang felt very warm under her collar as his gaze lingered on her before returning to Blake.

Blake surged forward to hug her dad, and Yang suddenly missed home. She could use some fatherly wisdom right now. And maybe a fatherly hug too.

But it was going to be a long time before they got to go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, please let me know what you think, especially if there are any errors or nonsensical bits.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters up in one night! 
> 
> Again, this one is unbeta'd so please be forgiving of mistakes.

Their quest around the trading areas to the east of Mistral had been a bust, but team RWBY’s mood hadn’t yet been dampened. They had spent a lot of time catching up on what had happened in their time apart, albeit reserving themselves to discussing Salem, or safer topics like Sun’s mischievous Menagerie activities and Jaune’s secret Pumpkin Pete hoodie.

Despite the fact that there were still some unvoiced clouds hanging over their heads, Ruby finally felt like they were getting back into their Beacon groove. As awful as it felt to think, Ruby couldn’t help but feel like the tragedy at Beacon and subsequent separation had tightened their friendship.

Weiss was a lot more open with affection and had stopped pretending she didn’t know Ruby when caught doing something embarrassing in public. At lunch, when Ruby had dabbed at herself with what she thought was a napkin and had instead turned out to be the corner of someone’s cloak, Weiss had just sighed and apologised before steering Ruby out of the café.

And Blake was talking more. Or maybe not more, just… more openly. Where before she might have been vague about where she’d gone or how she felt about facing the White Fang, she was freely answering their questions in detail. At first, Ruby wondered if she was trying to atone for leaving them, but Blake was smiling and laughing, and Ruby had started to suspect that she had just really missed them.

Even Yang seemed closer. While they were on neutral, safe subjects, Yang could be her usual silly, charming self; laughing loudly and widely at all of their stories, as though trying to pull them all in tightly and bind the group together with the strength of her positivity. Ruby had missed her the most during their time apart; the painful absence of her older sister had only been amplified by the heavy guilt that Ruby had carried across Anima. 

It was late as they approached the house, and Mistral’s old street lanterns had lit the road with a delicate yellow glow in the navy night. Ruby knew they were probably the last to return considering how much they’d dawdled, but she was tired, and the warm night was too pleasant to feel like they should rush. They’d fallen into a comfortable silence overlaid by chattering cicadas; the rumbling of the city lost to the distance.

As they drew closer, the windows of the house were rimmed with light that spilled out behind curtains and dimly illuminated the path to the door. Ruby could hear the clinking of crockery and dull murmuring of conversation as she turned the handle.  _ I wonder if they had any more luck. _

Jaune, Nora, Ren and Oscar were sitting on the floor around the coffee table, rifling through a haphazard assortment of large diagrams that were spread out across the surface around a chrome teapot. On closer inspection, Ruby realised they were maps of Remnant, depicting its various continents and oceans. 

Qrow was sitting in an armchair with his flask in one hand resting on his knee. In the other hand he held a map of Anima close to his face, his squinting eyes peering over it at the sound of the door opening. ‘How did you go?’

Ruby shook her head to pre-emptively dash his hopes, ‘All the shipping offices said the same thing. All boats sailing out to Atlas need to be approved a month in advance and have an ongoing trade contract. Atlas isn’t accepting any new traders and since the lockdown they are no longer accepting civilians by boat.’

Jaune sighed and leant back on his hands, ‘Yeah that’s pretty much what the export offices at the airstrip said too.’

‘The only way for people to enter Atlas is via airship, with a visa that has been processed and approved by the Atlas Council,’ Ren added.

‘Which would  _ also _ take months!’ Nora threw her hands in the air in frustration.

Oscar glanced over at Qrow, who had gone back to reading his map with disinterest, before relaying their discoveries of the day. ‘Qrow’s contacts fell through as well. Not only were a few of the most well-connected killed in Cinder’s crusade, but even those that weren’t have lost their network and resources to fear and tightened restrictions.’

Qrow cleared his throat as he put down the map, ‘It seems that the Mistral Police are cracking down on all the main transport from the kingdom. Taking a page out of Atlas’ book I guess. My sources that are still alive aren’t able to move people as easily as they used to, and the rest have gone into hiding.’

Yang flopped down onto the couch, ‘Yeah Blake’s parents were saying the same thing.’

Blake slipped Gambol Shroud from her back and sat at the other end of the couch, tucking her legs beneath her. ‘The faunus from Menagerie are being held up here before they can leave Mistral, but I suspect that they have it harder because of Adam and the White Fang.’

‘Not to mention the fact that there are a lot of people who feel less safe in the kingdom after last night,’ Weiss added, taking a seat between the two, ‘News travelled fast, and a lot of people seem on edge. At least half of the sea travel agencies we visited had already had to turn down people calling to book a ship out of here.’

Qrow sighed heavily and leaned forward to slide a newspaper out from under the maps. He dropped it down in front of them, and Ruby edged forward to see the front page. There was a large coloured picture of the Mistral Police standing over the White Fang’s disarmed explosive devices, with a confronting bold headline that read: “ _Another Academy Falls”_ , and a sceptical by-line: “ _Are our Headmasters qualified to teach the next generation when they fail to protect their own schools?”_

‘It seems there is a lot of doubt and anxiety going around the kingdom today,’ Qrow rested his elbows on his knees, with his fingertips pressed together pensively, ‘But it seems even the news outlets don’t have the full story.’

All the teams looked towards him, puzzled, but he was staring at the newspaper, lost in thought. Oscar, seeing Qrow wouldn’t elaborate, spoke up. ‘We heard some rumours among the Huntsmen contacts we spoke to, and we had it confirmed with a source in the Mistral Police. Apparently, Professor Lionheart’s body was found in his office. With, uh, multiple stab wounds.’

A quiet gasp went around the room.

‘Salem?’ Ruby asked, staring at the outline of Haven Academy’s courtyard in the image, ‘It couldn’t have been Mercury, Emerald, or Hazel - they all ran off. Unless they doubled back?’

‘Maybe Adam?’ Yang said with quiet uncertainty.

Blake immediately shook her head, ‘I doubt it. He ran off when he realised he was outnumbered, it wouldn’t have been safe to come back.’

‘It could have been Raven or Cinder? We didn’t see them leave,’ Jaune said darkly. Ruby saw Yang watching him from the corner of her eye.

‘Does it matter who specifically did it?’ Weiss asked, also eyeing off Yang’s blank expression, ‘One way or another it was Salem’s handiwork. Probably because the attack on Haven failed in its main objective. Or maybe he knew too much.’

‘Yeah,’ Qrow agreed, ‘It’s likely Salem had finished with him. Then again, I know my sister has a penchant for tying up loose ends…’ He trailed off and pulled his flask back out.

‘So, what’s the plan now then? Conventional travel to Atlas is out, so we need another way, right?’ Ruby piped up, desperate to change the subject, ‘There must be another way.’

‘This might be a dumb question, but I’m still catching up,’ Blake began, ‘Why exactly do we  _ have _ to get to Atlas? It’s starting to seem like that’s going to take a while, assuming we can get in at all. What’s there for us? Can’t we go somewhere else?’

The thought had played on Ruby’s mind throughout the day, and she glanced at Jaune’s backpack, sitting in the corner of the room. If she concentrated, she thought perhaps there was a faint humming sound.

Qrow languidly gestured to Oscar as he took a long drink. ‘Ozpin’s last message was to get the relic to Atlas. That’s all we have to go on.’

‘Is there someone else we can ask? Ozpin had like an inner circle, right? Maybe there’s someone else who knows what the relic does and what we need to do with it?’ Ruby asked.

Qrow tucked his flask away into his shirt pocket and pursed his lips. ‘I don’t think there is anyone else. I consider myself part of that inner circle, especially as Ozpin’s main informant, but there are a lot of things he didn’t share.’

Ruby frowned at that. Ozpin had promised total honesty once confronted, and while she could accept that transparency was not a necessary prerequisite to honesty, the two generally came hand-in-hand.  _ I would have at least thought uncle Qrow would know more. _

‘Well, it’s good he didn’t share everything with Lionheart.’ Jaune said, looking around his team, who nodded in agreement.

‘Still,’ Ruby spoke hesitantly, ‘Isn’t it a little weird that we have no clue why we’re going to Atlas? What if Ozpin doesn’t wake up? What will we do when we get there?’

‘If Salem is hunting the relics, then she’s likely to attack Atlas at some point too. Shouldn’t we try and keep the lantern away from there so she can’t get two for the price of one?’ Weiss agreed.

‘At this point I don’t know. All I know is that there are at least a couple of friendly faces in Atlas that we can trust, so without a better plan, that’s where we are going,’ Qrow said with finality. Ruby bit her lip.  _ It’s probably best to let it go for now. _

Qrow stood and turned towards the stairs. He paused and looked back over his shoulder, ‘If we can’t find conventional modes of transport to get to Atlas, then we will need to dig a little deeper. This is the kingdom of trading and all.’ He stalked away up the stairs, the vigorous thudding of his footsteps carrying across the upper floor.

Jaune scratched his head. ‘Kingdom of trading?’ 

‘I believe he was referring to the blackmarket of illegal imports and exports,’ Ren clarified.

‘And we’re the exports!’ Nora proclaimed with a grin, enthusiastically thumping a fist down onto the coffee table and unsettling the maps.

Oscar collected some of the scattered papers and stood as well, ‘If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to bed as well. It’s late and I’m still pretty wiped out from last night.’ He spoke quietly and wouldn’t meet any of their eyes as he carefully placed the pages down.

‘Are you okay?’ Ruby asked, concerned. Oscar looked up.

‘Uh, yeah. This is just kind of a lot, and more than a few people are ending up dead.’

‘It’ll be okay Oscar, we can do this,’ Ruby tried for her best confident, motivational voice.

‘Thanks Ruby,’ he replied with a slight smile at her effort, ‘But we don’t even know what we’re doing.’

Ruby didn’t have a response for that as Oscar turned away and left the room.

‘If Oscar and Ozpin are sharing the same brain, I would have thought he would be more knowledgeable about Ozpin’s plans,’ Weiss said, thoughtfully gazing at the doorway Oscar had just left through.

‘I don’t think they’re that in-sync yet,’ Jaune replied, ‘Oscar made it sound more like Ozpin is a voice in his head at the moment.’

Ruby nodded, ‘When he first explained it to us, Ozpin said they would gradually become one. I guess they just aren’t there yet.’ She shrugged and slumped into Qrow’s abandoned seat, her gaze falling on the cooled teapot before her and a dull throbbing emerging in her temples.

Nora let out a loud yawn, and Ren ushered her up. ‘We’re also going to head to sleep,’ he said, gently directing Nora.

Jaune hoisted himself up too, ‘Yeah we’ll see you guys in the morning, night.’ He picked up his pack and wrapped an arm firmly around it as he walked away. 

There was a long pause as team RWBY were left sitting and pondering. The night was quiet in this part of Mistral, and Ruby was thankful for the lack of noise. Her headache was rearing its head again and she just wanted to close her eyes from the assault of the bright overhead light. As her head lolled back into the armchair, Blake broke the silence.

‘I’m going to remake the tea. Does anyone want anything in particular?’

Weiss shifted and relaxed her posture slightly before responding, ‘I actually wouldn’t mind a cup of tea as well for a change, thank you. A black tea though, I think.’

Blake turned to Ruby with a hand on her hip, ‘And would you like some hot sugar water, Ruby?’ Ruby grinned at Blake’s poorly hidden eye roll. During their time at Beacon, Blake and Weiss had bonded over Ruby’s desire to bastardise their preferred drinks with an excess of sugar.

‘I would  _ love _ a cup of hot sugar water, Blake. Maybe throw in a tea bag just for appearance’s sake,’ she replied with a cheeky wink that made Blake roll her eyes even harder as she turned away.

As Blake opened her mouth to repeat her offer, Yang abruptly stood up.

‘Yang do you-?’

‘I’m actually going to quickly run out to the garage, my hand feels a little stiff and I think it needs a look,’ Yang raised the offending mechanical arm with an apologetic smile, ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’

‘Oh, okay, sure.’ Blake replied hesitantly, her ears flattening as she headed to the kitchen. Yang quietly slipped out the front door without another word or glance.

Ruby rubbed her temple and prepared to lay her head back again, but caught sight of Weiss lost in thought, chewing on her lip (a habit which Weiss would usually chasitise as a lack of self-restraint) and tapping her fingers where they rested delicately on her knees. Putting two and two together, Ruby recognised the symptoms of an anxious Schnee. She pulled herself out of her comfortable indent you had worked into the cushions, stretching her tired muscles as she leant forward.

‘Heya Weiss, whatcha thinking?’

-

Yang flexed her mechanical fingers as she walked past the garage and down the hill. The digits glided smoothly in their joints and she felt a slight pang of guilt. The night was still warm, but it felt less stifling than the house had been. 

She gave a swift kick to some gravel resting along the footpath’s edge, listening to them cascade down off one of Mistral’s steep ridges. The view from the lookout was impressive, though shrouded in darkness. The visage below her was flecked with pinpricks of light peeking out through the canopy; hints that there was a city below the excess of foliage. Yang could vaguely make out the shapes of the distant mountains, hulking in the blackness like lumbering ursa, waiting and watching, while an unearthly bird’s cry sounded through the night. 

She stepped back from the edge and instead of continuing, she stepped off the path into a small shadowed copse, now a distance away from the cliff that the house stood on. Dropped in an ungainly heap into the grass that was just beginning to form an evening dew, Yang leant back on her elbows to look at their temporary residence, watching the upstairs lights turn off one by one.

Tilting her head back to the sky, Yang tried to see the stars between the thick boughs. There were a couple dotted around but the light pollution from the upper levels of the city dimmed the night. Still, the rustling leaves above her head and gentle chirping of insects was tranquil enough. Enough for her to let go of the bottled-up emotions from the day.

_ Blake is back. That’s as good a place as any to start processing. _

Yang frowned a little. Blake hadn’t so much as hinted at the subject of her disappearance. She’d just reappeared and joined the team again. Based on her reaction when they first ran into each other, Yang had thought maybe Blake would realise how much damage had been done.

So far nothing.  _ That’s not entirely fair though. _ She had to concede that Blake hadn’t really had a chance to talk about it. Not personally anyway. They had thrown her in the deep end, and to her credit, she was still here despite the opportunity to leave with her family.

_ And her family. _ Blake hadn’t at all talked about her team. Yang’s petty and bitter side wanted to attribute it to how inconsequential RWBY had been to Blake. They had to have been, for her to leave so callously in the middle of such chaos. 

But Yang was trying to be more level-headed; letting go of the whims and notions that justified the burning anger inside her. She used to consider it the source of her strength.

And if she was ignoring the angry, hurt voice that whispered Sun’s words back to her, Yang was reminded of raised voices in their old dorm room, and the widening of Blake’s eyes when her history came tumbling out. She was reminded of the way Blake’s lips quivered when she spoke of an old mentor, and the dark, sleepless circles that had blemished an otherwise pretty face.  _ Is that what the past is to her? Guilt? _

Yang dropped her head back onto the grass, hair sprawled out around her and catching in the pricklier blades. In the absence of an actual conversation, Yang didn’t know how things stood between her and Blake. She could only conjure up reasons and resolutions in exactly the same way she had while curled up in her childhood bedroom, nursing her wounded pride.

She grit her teeth and thudded a mechanical fist down hard on the ground, feeling the reverberation up her arm where she once would have felt dirt digging into her skin. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to  _ stay _ angry. It wasn’t fair for someone to just leave and waltz back into her life as though it didn’t matter. As though whether she waited or searched was irrelevant. As though having the ability to return in an instant meant they could leave without a second thought.

Yang felt tears welling in her eyes. She turned on her side, curling tightly, and felt her face grow wet and her breathing shallow. The flutter of feathers and hum of swirling crimson light overwhelmed her thoughts. Regretful golden eyes forgotten; lost behind images of a contemptuous red glare. She wrapped her arms around knees and allowed herself to sob.

_ Why did she leave again? _

-

Weiss had thought the uneasy tension that had tightened her muscles stemmed from the anticipation of meeting Blake’s politically active family. Perhaps that was because she had allowed herself to dwell in stressful hypotheticals all morning, but the actual meeting had been decidedly non-eventful. 

Over the course of the day, however, as they had questioned ticket sellers, trade companies, and ship captains, the thought that they would soon be heading back to Atlas began to sink in. The home she had just escaped. 

The team had pestered her with innocuous questions about Atlas, curious about their destination. Each innocent query about the climate had simultaneously brought to mind a childhood filled with snow angels, as well as the tempestuous, stormy seas that delayed Schnee Dust shipments. Each tiny harbour village on the Solitas nautical charts had reminded her of chilly coastline vacations, spent playing in icy water with Winter. But she could also hear the echoes of old dinner conversation; her father’s triumphant announcements that he had purchased yet another of the smaller competing trade ports.

‘Heya Weiss, whatcha thinking?’

Weiss was started out of her reverie by Ruby’s question. The room had grown quiet, aside from the distant clinking of Blake pottering around in the kitchen and footsteps padding around on the floor above. Weiss looked up to find silver eyes appraising her, and she immediately clasped her fidgeting hands together. Ruby was unfaltering in her gaze, and it took Weiss a moment to remember she had been asked a question.

‘Nothing,’ she responded quickly, ‘I was merely- ’ Weiss cut herself off, mid-evasion, and paused. Ruby’s expression was open and curious, and nothing like the countenances of those in Atlas who had taught and raised her. She audibly sighed, wondering whether there were any other vices her musings had brought back to the surface. ‘I was… just thinking about going home.’

A soft clacking of heels heralded Blake’s reappearance, the contents of the tea tray rattling with the motion.  

‘Home to Atlas?’ Blake asked as she distributed tea cups, making a great show of picking up the sugar bowl and placing it directly in front of Ruby, who poked out her tongue.

‘Yes,’ Weiss replied, watching as Blake began to pour, ‘Father and I didn’t part on good terms obviously. I actually have no idea how he reacted when he realised I was gone.’ Curls of steam rose up out of the tea cups as Blake filled them. Weiss noted that Blake was an excellent pourer: neither too fast, nor too uneven. Not a single bubble emerged from the cascade as it made contact.  _ Winter would be impressed. Or at least not disapproving. _

‘He… wouldn’t be very forgiving would he?’ Ruby hesitantly asked. Weiss knew she hadn’t spoken too much about her family life, but her team seemed to have picked up on it anyway, and Ruby was trying not to tread on any proverbial toes.

Weiss gave gentle wry smile at that. ‘No,’ she said quietly, ‘He’s not the most forgiving person.’

Blake handed Weiss her tea, and sat beside her. ‘From the looks of things, we’re going to be sneaking in to Atlas anyway. We don’t have to visit your home if you don’t want a confrontation.’

Weiss blew at the steam over the rim of her cup. Ruby’s vigorous stirring pierced the quiet of the room; spoon clattering noisily against china. ‘Well, my father informed the public that I was too ill to handle the burden of being the Schnee heir, so I think a confrontation is pretty much guaranteed.’

Ruby paused her stirring, and Weiss could see she was puzzled. ‘Even so, Blake is right, we just won’t go to your castle-’ Weiss frowned, ‘Uh, tower? Manor?’

Weiss rolled her eyes, ‘I’m not a literal Ice Queen, Ruby.’ Ruby gave her look of scepticism.

‘Still, as Blake said, we won’t let your dad know you’re in town, and then, boom, no confrontation.’

‘I don’t think it’s so simple Ruby,’ Blake replied, and Weiss quickly averted the appraising gaze, feeling heat rise up her neck. 

‘What? But you just said-’

‘I didn’t realise that Weiss’ situation was public knowledge,’ Blake stated, ‘I know you didn’t recognise Weiss when you first met her, but there are plenty who will, especially in Atlas. The Schnee’s are kind of a big deal.’

‘People recognise you in the street?’ Ruby asked in awed disbelief, jaw-dropping.

Weiss tilted her head in a non-committal manner, her cheeks growing warm in embarrassment.  _ It’s funny that a short while ago, that sort of thing would have made me proud.  _

‘The Schnees have pretty definable physical characteristics. Even if they didn’t recognise her straight away, it wouldn’t take a lot to put two and two together,’ Blake added.

‘And if your dad has publicly stated that you’re sick and housebound, someone is bound to see you and realise it’s not true,’ Ruby said, the pieces finally clicking together.

‘Or they might think that I’ve gotten better. It’s guaranteed to get back to my father somehow, and he  _ will _ track me down.’ Weiss sighed, feeling the day’s tension straining her neck and shoulders again. ‘He’s certain to be annoyed as well.’

‘He’ll either have to admit to lying, or praise your miraculous recovery. The latter of which means he’ll be obliged to reinstate you as heir or come up with another excuse,’ Blake commented as she sipped her tea.

‘And the former means controversial publicity, which he will not want.’ Weiss brought the cup to her lip. ‘So anything I do is going to end in a fight with my father, and probably a very public one.’

Ruby reached out and placed a hand on Weiss’ knee. ‘We’ll back you no matter what, Weiss. We won’t let him lock you up again.’

Weiss raised her eyebrows in surprise. ‘You know, it hadn’t occurred to me that he would try something like that again. In fact, I’m sure he wouldn’t. How could he explain it a second time?’

‘Oh, but you’re still worried?’ 

Weiss reached up and rubbed her neck. ‘I’m just… I suppose, conflicted?’

‘About?’ Blake asked. ‘In my experience, if someone treats you poorly, you don’t owe that person anything.’

‘On the one hand, yes I agree. Why should I care about whether my father looks bad. He  _ should _ look bad considering he tried to lock me away for my opinions,’ Weiss felt the words fly from her lips forcefully, filled with the simmering resentment and vehemence she had been carrying in the pit of her stomach. Her self-righteous fire quickly abandoned her however, and she let out a long breath. ‘On the other hand, I still don’t know if I can bring myself to do that to him. I’m not sure if it’s latent love or a socially-conditioned aversion to scandal. He’s not a good person, I know.’ Weiss paused, watching a few stray tea leaves swirl patterns in her drink, ‘But I guess I’m only just starting to realise that, and it’s a little hard to come to terms with.’

She tentatively looked up at Blake, worried what judgement she’d find there. Weiss may have only just accepted that her father wasn’t the pinnacle of generosity that some claimed, but Blake was definitely already familiar with the idea. Would she resent Weiss for not taking the opportunity to defame him? Would she assume that Weiss was trying to protect him?

But Blake’s face showed no anger or disappointment. The expressive golden eyes slowly blinked, and she radiated such a calm energy that Weiss struggled to picture the militant revolutionary fire that must once have possessed her friend, and was likely still burning deep within her.

‘Weiss, we can play this however you want. I know from experience that it’s hard to let go of the people and things that have made up a part of your identity. I was being slowly indoctrinated into violent extremist ideologies, and I still feel conflicted when I think about Adam. Sometimes it’s hard to separate your idea or memory of person from who they actually are.’ A shadow fell over Blake’s face. ‘He’s done some truly unforgivable things that I won’t ever be able to look past. But it diverges so much from my original feelings towards him that it makes me feel... unbalanced.’ 

Blake grew quiet, pensively gazing out the front window. After a long moment, she shook herself out of her thoughts and smiled. ‘My point is that, maybe you can objectively see that he has done bad things, but I understand if it will take a while to reconcile that knowledge with your emotions.’

Weiss let out a shaky breath at Blake’s response, and tightened her unstable grip on the teacup’s handle. She felt ridiculous at the well of emotion that rose up in her throat and she forcibly swallowed it back down, regaining her composure. Ruby got up out of her armchair to come and sit on Weiss’ other side, sandwiching her between them.

‘What about Winter?’ Ruby asked with a yawn, ‘She’d be at Atlas now, wouldn’t she?’

Weiss leant back into the couch, ignoring the inner voice that protested any form of slouching. ‘Yes, those bandits told me that all of Atlas’ military personnel were recalled. The only good part about going home. But I don’t know what she’d have to say about all of this.’ She gestured vaguely at their current situation.

‘Winter is high ranking right? And close to Ironwood too. Maybe she already knows?’ Ruby suggested. ‘Uncle Qrow did seem to know her from somewhere.’

Weiss shrugged, the movement difficult against the soft, squashy cushioning that felt as though it was pulling her in. Her eyelids felt heavy, slowly blinking away the image of the deep navy night beyond the window.

‘Maybe we should all get some sleep?’ Blake suggested softly, standing and taking the tray to the kitchen.

Weiss dragged herself up and headed towards the stairs, hearing the front door open behind her and Ruby’s voice. ‘Hey Yang. We’re heading to bed.’ 

‘Sounds good to me.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to hear opinions! Too expositiony? Not enough 'show'?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loving all your comments so far! They are genuinely pushing me to get these chapters out.
> 
> Again unbeta'd, so please be nice. I'm trying to edit as fast as I can.

The next morning, Blake woke up alone again. It wasn’t entirely unexpected; Yang had always woken earlier than the rest of the team. However, she couldn’t really shake the feeling that Yang was avoiding her again. The sun was just seeping into the room and Blake was sure Yang couldn’t have been awake for long.

She rolled onto her back and watched the beams of light hit dust particles in the air, listening to muffled noises from the rooms on either side of her. She released a long drawn-out sigh. It had only been one day but it felt like a year. A year of reconnecting with Ruby and Weiss and a year of second-guessing every interaction with Yang.

At least she had learnt one thing over the course of the day. It seemed there was more to Yang’ bizarre temperament than the tension between the two of them. The whole day had been spent dodging around certain topics; Yang’s mood seemingly dipping and spiking in correlation.  _ And last night… _

She tucked her hands up under her head and stared up at the peeling cornices along the ceiling. In their attempts to comfort Weiss, Blake had forgotten about Yang’s sudden disappearance. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, frowning. It had been odd, the way Yang had abruptly needed to tend to her arm.  _ Right? Or maybe she has to oil it often. _ There was no way of knowing without asking, and any question about the appendage would open an entirely different can of worms. She sighed again, feeling knots in her stomach at the idea that Yang was struggling to adjust to her new situation. 

_The expression on her face when she came back though… she was so…_ Blake couldn’t pick the emotion that corresponded to the dullness of Yang’s eyes, once so vivacious, and the crease in her brow. Blake had come close to asking, to cracking open the blank facade that looked like Yang but didn’t _feel_ like Yang; the words had been on the brink of spilling out. But those violet eyes had caught hers, had seen the question on her lips… and had turned quickly away to pass on “goodnights” to the others.

Blake wrested the pillow out from under her head and pressed it into her face, groaning in frustration at her own stupidity. She wasn’t sure if she was more irritated because she had failed to ask, or because she had been so presumptuous to even try to in the first place.

She took a deep breath of the stuffy pillow air; its pressure comfortingly blocked out the rest of the house to leave her deep in her thoughts. She wondered if Weiss and Ruby had noticed Yang’s behaviour the night before. They probably had a better idea of what had been going on with her over the past year.  _ Maybe I can find out what’s going on with her without upsetting her. _ The dulled eyes flashed through her mind once again.

She tossed the pillow aside and stretched herself as far as she could, feeling the muscles loosen and joints crack, and then pulled herself out of bed. She had a goal today.

-

When Blake got downstairs, the house appeared empty. She lightly wandered through to the kitchen, reluctant to break the resting stillness. The morning light created great sheets of white-yellow that fell across the panelled floor in the living room, unobstructed by the tree just beyond the glass. The blinding glare hit Blake’s eyes at just the right angle and she quickly slipped through to the shaded kitchen with squinted eyes and a grimace.

She flicked the switch on the kettle in an almost automatic movement, and as the soft bubbling began she heard voices from outside. Blake craned her neck and peaked out the window. Beyond the branches, on the training ground, she caught a glimpse of gold and she shuffled closer for a better look.

Yang was sitting in the dirt at the back of the house, chatting with Nora while they watched Ren thoroughly outmanoeuvre Jaune at chess. Blake hesitated at the window for half a second before remembering her new goal, and perched herself on a strategically placed kitchen stool to observe. In the absence of a conversation with Ruby and Weiss, watching Yang could provide some insight.

Sitting in the rays of direct sunlight, Yang’s golden hair glittered and gleamed, haloing her face with soft light. Ren knocked yet another of Jaune’s pieces off the board, prompting some sassy commentary from Nora. Yang threw her head back and laughed freely, her hair shimmering in the motion.

She didn’t know how it was possible but Blake’s heart both lifted and sank simultaneously. It was impossible to see someone as vivacious as Yang laughing and not feel uplifted. She seemed so carefree and happy, her smile reaching her eyes; so confident with her own physical presence as she casually leaned back on her elbows on the ground, soaking up the sun. Yang was contagiously joyous, and Blake was sure Ren and Jaune’s laughter was less to do with Nora’s joke and more a result of Yang’s sparkling company.

It was such a stark contrast to yesterday that Blake’s chest felt warm with her contentment. It was as though the previous day had been an outlier, or a freak shift into a parallel world where Yang had started acting Blake-like, and now they were finally settled back into reality.

But Blake could feel an emptiness in her stomach; there was no parallel universe, and a far more likely explanation was that Yang’s gloomy, secretive mood was a result of the presence of team RWBY. Or maybe just a result of Blake.

JNPR were light and bright, and could keep their discussions to the black and white, good vs evil, Salem vs the heroes. The momentary serenity of the scene had tempted Blake, but if she had been considering going out there to bask in Yang’s good mood, she definitely wasn’t now. She was sure her appearance would more than outweigh any sense of lightheartedness that Yang was getting from the others.

As she sat still and contemplative in the shade of the kitchen, the unattended kettle long since boiled and cooling, Blake’s ears flicked back towards the stairs. Ruby and Weiss’ bickering could be heard long before they actually rounded the corner.

‘- and it’s  _ your _ light that keeps me awake. It’s  _ exactly _ the same as it was at Beacon, you never –‘

‘Morning Blake!’ Ruby proclaimed with as much emphasis as possible, drowning out Weiss’ complaint. Weiss let out a dissatisfied huff and immediately moved towards the kettle

‘Morning Ruby, Weiss,’ Blake said, quickly throwing a small smile in their direction before returning her scrutiny to outside. Jaune seemed to have made a surprise comeback based on the shock on Yang’s face and Nora’s emphatic cheering.  _ Maybe he’s not too much of a lost cause. _ ‘The water is boiled, by the way.’

A faint pop and the kitchen was filled with the scent of Weiss’ instant coffee; a cheap bitterness that made Blake scrunch her nose. Out of the corner of her eye, Blake realised Ruby had sidled up next to her and was watching the shenanigans on the deck as well. They stood in silence for a moment, with only the sounds of the kettle whistling and Weiss busying herself with mugs and spoons.

‘Yang seems happier today,’ Blake commented, trying to sound aloof.

‘Yeah,’ was all Ruby said in response.

Drink in hand, Weiss joined them leaning against the kitchen counter. ‘What are you both looking at?’

‘We were just commenting that Yang seems better,’ Ruby said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Weiss snorted, ‘Well, it’s not like those three are going to be asking her tough questions about what she’s feeling.’ Blake was a little surprised that Weiss had picked up the same cues she had.

‘I spoke to her yesterday,’ Ruby chewed her lip, ‘when we were getting the drinks? I asked her if everything was okay. All she said was that a lot was going on, but she was fine,’ she sighed and leant on to the counter, resting her head on her hand, ‘I think Yang thinks she has to protect me a bit, though. Like, be the parent?’

‘Yeah,’ Blake agreed, ‘I can see that.’

‘She said as much,’ Weiss commented idly, swirling her coffee. Blake raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then furrowed them.  _ I didn’t realise they were that close. I guess a lot has changed. _

‘Did she?’ Ruby seemed surprised as well. Weiss looked up, a little nonplussed herself.

‘Yes. When I spoke to her.’ Weiss’ gaze flicked to Blake quickly, and Blake narrowed her eyes. ‘After that… discussion the other week.’

‘Oh.’

Blake pursed her lips, watching as they both tried to avoid eye contact. ‘Was this discussion about me by any chance?’  _ At least we’re getting somewhere. _

‘Oh, you know, it was no big deal,’ Ruby tried to wave the conversation off, and wave away the possibility of conflict among her team with it. Unfortunately for Ruby, Weiss was a member of this team.

‘Well, obviously,’ Weiss immediately replied, as though the words had been waiting to burst out and start swinging. Any reservations Weiss seemed to have had disappeared now that the topic had been properly raised. Blake was a little surprised by her teammate’s boldness, but knowing Weiss, she shouldn’t have been.

Blake shrunk a little onto her stool, wishing it had been a more concealing piece of furniture. ‘Was she angry?’ she asked quietly.

‘Uh, yeah,’ Ruby conceded, ‘She seemed pretty upset.’

‘What did she say?’

Ruby looked over at Weiss, who raised her eyebrows in response and pointedly sipped her drink. ‘Well, we had just reunited, and I mentioned that it would be nice if you were here. To have the whole gang back together.’

‘Yang was more than a little snippy at the idea,’ Weiss interjected, ‘Something about you making your choice.’

Blake deflated further.  _ So that’s what this is about. I knew she would be upset that I left. _

‘We tried to defend you!’ Ruby exclaimed, clearly trying to cheer Blake up.

‘I can’t see how she could have taken that well,’ she responded miserably. ‘What else did she say? Is she still upset?’

Weiss sighed and nursed her mug. ‘Why don’t you talk to her yourself?’ she suggested, more gently, ‘I hardly think dancing around the issue and avoiding her is going to make anything better.’

Blake looked back out to where Yang was leaning back, content smile on her face. ‘She seems happier without me around.’

‘You idiot,’ Weiss gave dramatic eye roll, ‘You think Yang was  _ angry _ at you?’ She paused and reconsidered, ‘Well, yes, she was.’

‘But,’ Ruby interrupted, giving Weiss a disapproving look, ‘that doesn’t mean she was  _ angry _ -angry, you know? She was so upset right after Beacon, she barely even spoke to me.’ Ruby’s face scrunched up in memory. ‘I was only there for a few months, but Yang was really struggling emotionally… and physically. She stayed in bed a lot, and when she got up, she was really off balance.’

‘Her arm…’ Blake said softly, watching the light glint off the metal. Blake had thought a lot about Yang’s arm and how she was handling its absence, especially on the long boat trip to Menagerie. Every move Blake had made and every object she had held made her picture Yang trying to do the same, with an accompanying guilt punch to the gut. She hadn’t even considered that just walking and standing might be struggle when someone’s sense of balance was thrown off.

Blake closed her eyes, somehow feeling tired after just waking up. Another burst of laughter drifted in and she reopened them. ‘You were only there a few months?’ she asked, a little surprised.

Ruby’s eyes were downcast and she seemed a little ashamed, ‘Yeah. I needed to do something about what happened at Beacon, and that meant travelling to Mistral with Jaune, Ren, and Nora. And Yang wasn’t really talking to me much. Or anyone,’ Ruby added quietly.

‘That was months ago,’ Weiss said firmly, placing her mug down. ‘Yang opened up to me when I spoke with her, and we weren’t even that close. Besides, I’m sure she could use the support for her other issues.’

‘Her other issues?’ Blake questioned, still caught up in her own baggage with Yang. The look she was given in response strongly suggested that Weiss found it hard to believe Blake had survived infancy.

‘Raven,’ Ruby said gravely, before quickly checking that Yang was still well out of earshot. Blake mentally smacked herself in the forehead for forgetting.

‘Raven sided with Salem, right?’ she asked uncertainly. So far the issue had been skirted around in conversation that Blake had only been able to paint herself a vague picture of the events with Yang’s mother.

‘It seems that way,’ Ruby said sadly, ‘She had been harbouring the Spring Maiden and decided to side with Cinder.’

‘God, poor Yang.’ Blake turned to watch Yang idly drawing patterns in the red earth, ‘She’d been looking for her for so long and found her fighting with Cinder?’

‘Well, that’s not strictly what happened,’ Weiss said stiffly. Blake was a little confused by Weiss’ tone.

‘What do you mean?’

Blake’s mouth dropped in shock as Weiss recounted her kidnapping and confrontation with Raven’s bandit tribe, and Yang’s first meeting. She was even more astounded by Ruby’s retelling of Shion village.

‘So what you’re saying is that she’s a brutal, self-involved, power-hungry person?’ Blake’s heart sank once again at the thought of Yang discovering this. ‘How on Remnant was she even on a team with your dad? How does Yang even exist?’ It didn’t add up from what Yang had told Blake, the scraping of chalk and quavering voice still fresh in her mind.  _ Did Yang’s dad lie to her about having loved her? Or does he just have really poor judgement? _

‘I think maybe she was a different person. A very long time ago,’ Ruby explained, ‘Dad and Uncle Qrow never talked about her, but they barely talked about my mom either.’

‘You know, I don’t think it’s that black and white,’ Weiss said thoughtfully, swirling her drink absent-mindedly, ‘After she called off her bandits and brought us into her tent, she spoke to us like reasonable people.’ Weiss paused as though to recollect her memories, leaning back on the counter. ‘She gave us tea. And she told us a lot. About Ozpin and your uncle. And your dad.’ Weiss shrugged. ‘But she was a little blasé and confrontational, and well, you know Yang. She gets heated easily.’

‘What did she say?’ Blake wasn’t fully sure she wanted to know.

‘Hm, things like: “you can’t trust Ozpin”, and “Qrow and your father are fools”. Then she told us about the magic and Salem. She was vague but everything has been true so far.’

‘And she did end up creating a portal to Qrow so you could both meet up with me,’ Ruby conceded, ‘She didn’t have to do any of that.’

‘But now she’s working for Salem,’ Blake returned to the issue at hand, ‘And is after the relic, and may use force to get it.’

Weiss nodded sadly. ‘The last thing she said to us before sending us through the portal was that if Yang decided to side with Qrow then they’d essentially be enemies. Seems like she meant it.’

Blake turned her head back to the window and watched as the group outside stood, brushing off the dirt from their clothes, clearly having finished with their game. ‘I see.’ 

Their conversation drew to a halt, and Ruby began making herself cereal as the others came indoors. Blake watched Yang as closely as she could without being conspicuous for the rest of the morning.

-

Over the next couple of days, Qrow was in and out of the house, crossing off lists and handing out different jobs to divided up teams. These assignments usually consisted of ‘Go talk to the guy at the newspaper stand in the southeast quarter. Rumour has it that he organises “special” imports of exotic pets. Find out if he knows anything about transport to Atlas’ or ‘the local dust shop seems to have a reasonable stock of dust. See if they are getting smuggled shipments from the Schnee Dust Company.’

So far, all had ended with the same response. Mistral Law Enforcement were on high alert and most black market dealings had died down until the tension blew over. These businesses had enjoyed a flexible relationship with the law, and tended to operate by the grace of underpaid apathy or bribery. However, with the lack of huntsman and recent White Fang attack, the mutually profitable business model was under closer scrutiny and the police were not only monitoring legitimate travel but also all shipments in and out of the city.

With such a vast underground network across Mistral, the gang had been kept busy and divided, pursuing increasingly more obscure leads, and unable to to gather together long enough to discuss the pressing concern on everyone’s mind.

It seemed that Ozpin would not be making a reappearance any time soon. And despite Qrow’s usual cool and disaffected demeanour, and it wasn’t hard to see he was worried about Ozpin’s disappearance. The entirety of their plan had come to rest on that last instruction, and their options for executing it were dwindling.

Ruby was flopped across the cool timber panelling of the floor of their house, weary from yet another a long walk across Mistral to a quiet out-of-the-way convenience store for yet another dead end. Their polite enquiry about illegal business practice had, of course, devolved into an all-out brawl after the suspicious, twitchy shopkeep had requested ‘Slugger’ to “escort them out the back” and “assist them with their queries”.  _ Hardly convenient _ , Ruby mentally scowled as the warmth of exertion began to fade from her flushed skin.

The evening dusk was setting in and a gentle breeze began to rattle the blinds against the windows. Ruby could feel her muscles slowly relax, easing into jellied puddles against the floor. The fastening of her cloak was resting against her throat, just slightly too tight to be comfortable, though she had grown too cosy in her starfish sprawl to be bothered to adjust it. The nagging sensation remained, however, just like the slight tension behind her eyes, that had recently ceased throbbing.

Ruby allowed her eyelids to gently blur the room around her, watching her eyelashes turn the bare ceiling into a beige kaleidoscope. She could hear a thump as Jaune collapsed into an armchair, and the sluggish clopping of Blake’s boots on the hardwood in the next room, slowly growing closer. She knew Oscar was already stretched out on another couch in a sleepy daze. They were all likely just as worn down after accompanying Ruby to what had seemed the ends of the earth. It had been a long, hot day, and now all they could do was wait until they could report their lack of news.

Ruby could see the shadows of Blake’s form grow closer as she sat down next to Ruby’s head.

‘Are you alright?’ Blake asked softly.

Ruby tried to shrug but realised the movement was beyond her in her current position, so settled for a slight head tilt. ‘Yeah. My head’s a little sore but that’s not new. I’m not usually so tired though.’

‘I think maybe the stress of Haven is finally catching up with us. We’ve been full speed ahead since I joined you guys. It must just be taking its toll.’

‘Speak for yourselves,’ came a long drawn out groan from what Ruby pictured to be a Jaune-shaped lump, melted into the armchair, ‘I’ve been exhausted for days now. I should be at my physical peak.’

Ruby giggled at how forlorn he sounded, and dragged herself up, almost strangling herself on her cloak in the process as she wrestled with fabric. Her head spun a little, and the pressure behind her eyes was strong.

The door was thrown open and crashed against the wall, causing them all to jump. A thoroughly irate Qrow stalked in, hands deep in pockets, and eyes glaring. He surveyed them all as he entered, and at Ruby’s slight head shake, he scowled further, dropping Harbinger in the corner of the room before dramatically pulling out his flask.

‘I take it you didn’t have any luck either?’ Ruby tentatively asked.

‘No. No one is taking risks right now.’

All four of them gave a sigh and settled in to wait for the others.

-

Yang bounded up the path to the house, playfully racing Nora to the front door in the darkness, while Weiss and Ren chided and cautioned them respectively. She was surprised at how relaxed a day she’d had with this group. They’d spent the day visiting a variety of back-alleys and shady stores as Qrow’s leads grew more tenuous. They were unsurprisingly unsuccessful.

Despite this, they’d managed to have fun. Nora was a great amplifier for Yang’s own enthusiasm and it was nice to feel so easy-going for a change. There was a bit of contrition, when Yang realised that she was having more fun with Nora, and sometimes Ren and Jaune, than she was having with her own team, but RWBY forced Yang into a constant state of confrontation with her emotions and it was nice to forget for a while.

The odd group combination had made for a good outing. Nora tended to leave heavy conversation for others; revelling instead in light-hearted banter. Yang was sure Ren had deep, poignant thoughts, but he was so quiet and introspective that one could safely spend the day with him without prompting sticky discussions. And Weiss. Weiss never shied away from confrontation, but she also wasn’t the sort to drag personal dramas out into the open in front of others, having been raised to suppress scandal in public view.

So Yang had had a carefree day challenging Nora to games of “Who’s the fastest?” (Nora), “Who’s the strongest?”(Yang), and “Who can be the most intimidating and squeeze information out of the weasley dealer?” (Weiss), leaving her feeling energetic and buoyant for the first time in days.

Yang pushed the door open and threw her arms in the air, going for the most show-stopping entrance. ‘Helloooooo!’

She was surprised to see everyone else laying around in various stages of napping, but Qrow perked up when he saw them.

‘Did you find anything?’ He asked urgently.

‘Oh.’  _ Whoops, may have given the wrong impression. _ ‘No.’

Qrow grunted and abruptly stood, grumpily running his hands through his hair. He began pacing, while Yang took a seat next to a puddle of Ruby.

‘That’s not the pace of a happy man, is it?’ She murmured.

Ruby shook her head sadly, sitting upright. ‘No, same as usual. We all struck out.’

‘Some of the ones we spoke to today were a really unlikely too,’ Weiss commented as she sat beside them, ‘We had to really twist some screws to make sure, but none of the people we talked to have any sort of connection with the actual smuggling part of the black market.’

‘Well that’s that,’ Qrow said suddenly, stopping his tracks and drawing all eyes to him. ‘I’m all out of city connections.’

‘What?’ Jaune said, dragging himself from between the pillows on the armchair. ‘That’s it? We can’t get to Atlas?’

Yang was a stunned by the sudden revelation, and felt slightly guilty for taking the day so easily. The search had dragged on for so long she had begun to forget about the repercussions of their failure.

‘No, there has to be another way.’ Ruby spoke with conviction, determination burning in her eyes. ‘We can’t give up yet.’

‘I’m sure there is,’ Qrow responded with a resigned sigh, ‘But we’re not going to find it here. Especially considering the fact that Cinder’s lackeys are likely still in town. We should expand our search, for the mission and for the relic’s safety.’

‘Do you have somewhere in mind?’ Oscar asked, seemingly preoccupied with the fixings on his cane but clearly still listening.

‘Yes.’ Qrow turned to the pile of scattered maps still resting on the coffee table, and shuffled them around until he found the one he wanted. Considering the dubious quality of their most recent leads, Yang half expected him to pull out some old, worn treasure map. But it was just another freshly purchased map of Anima, worn flat by several days at the bottom of the pile.

Qrow spread it out, and crouched down in front of it, closely examining the small print. The rest of the group drew in closer, kneeling around the table; their piqued curiosity overriding any physical tiredness. 

Qrow stabbed his finger down suddenly. ‘There, that’s where we’re going.’

Yang leaned forward to read, though the map was upside down from her perspective. The spot Qrow was pointing to was along the eastern coast of Anima, in a large bay. She imagined it was some kind port.

‘Windpath?’ Ren asked, with noticeable uncertainty in his voice, ‘That’s a very… questionable town.’

‘And the answer to the question is “shady”,’ Nora added.

‘Yeah exactly,’ Qrow replied, sitting back and stretching his legs out. He had regained some of his aloofness with a new plan of attack forming in his mind. ‘We haven’t found a legal mode of transport because of the Atlas border shutdown. And we haven’t found an illegal one either, because of Mistral’s paranoia. So we go lower. The black market peddlers of Mistral are practically white-collar compared to the guys who procure the product. You go lower down the food chain than criminals, and you get bandits.’

Yang’s heart dropped.  _ Bandits? _ Her mind immediately returned to an imposing facade of logs, ripped canvas, rusted metal, and for a panicked moment she thought of the idea of running into her mother; the lies and omissions from the Battle of Haven beginning to surface.

‘You mean like Raven?’ Ruby cautiously asked. Yang could feel eyes on her and forced herself to remain as unreadable as possible. ‘Aren’t we trying to avoid her?’

‘There are a lot of bandits all over Remnant. Sure, Raven had a strong following, but these are smugglers in what is essentially a town run by brigands. There’s a diverse spread of factions from what I recall, and it’s doubtful that Raven herself would be there unless she has plans to takeover. And if any of her tribe is in Windpath, they’re unlikely to recognise us.’

Yang felt the tension in her body ease in relief. She wasn’t ready to come face to face with her secret about the vault just yet. Not when she wasn’t fully sure why she was keeping it in the first place.

‘So we head out tomorrow then?’ Ruby seemed more enthusiastic now the question of Raven was off the table.

‘Wait, do we even know anything about this place? When was the last time you were there?’ Blake’s expression was sceptical.

Weiss nodded, ‘I agree, this seems a little hasty. I get that we have to leave here soon, before Salem has the opportunity to track us down, but surely walking straight into a bandit camp would put the relic at risk.’

‘It’s not a bandit camp, it’s a small town,’ Qrow replied with a grunt, ‘But I see your point, I’ll spend tomorrow asking around to confirm the details, and we’ll leave the day after.’

Yang peered over the map. ‘It seems like it’s going to be a few a days on foot, probably through some Grimm-populated areas,’ she commented.

‘Not to mention the bandits themselves,’ Ruby said thoughtfully. She suddenly bounced to her feet and glanced around the rest of her team with bright eyes. ‘You know what that means?’

Yang saw Weiss and Blake give each other a nervous look. They were all recalling the last time Ruby had said that. It had ended with a bunk being thrown out a second story window by part accident and part dare.

‘Team training!’ She burst out enthusiastically. All three of them sighed in relief. ‘We haven’t trained together since Beacon. If we’re going to be out fighting the forces of evil, we need to make sure we’re all still in sync.’

Yang got to her feet and hip-bumped Ruby. ‘Sure thing, I’d love a chance to wipe the floor with you weaklings.’ She struggled to withhold her snickering at Ruby’s outraged face.

‘You!’ Yang had to pull her head back to narrowly avoid the finger that was now pointing at her face. ‘Shall be the one to be wiped.’ Ruby scrunched her brow. ‘Uh, wiping? You will be the wipe-ee?’ She shook herself out of her confusion. ‘I’m going to kick your ass, Yang Xiao Long!’

Yang merely poked her tongue out and then casually stretched, ‘accidentally’ shoving Ruby over onto the couch, who fell with a small ‘oof’. ‘We have a plan, so I guess it’s bedtime then?’

The others, who had been watching the exchange with a sort of familiar, amused resignation, slowly stood as well. Qrow folded up the map he had been using and tucked it into his inner shirt pocket.

‘Yeah, get some sleep kids and pack all your stuff up, we’re moving out in two days.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't know how happy I am with parts of this chapter, but maybe you're your own worst critic?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How great was episode one of volume 6? There are no spoilers in this story though.
> 
> Again, unbeta'd.

She first heard the groaning reverberating around her; a wooden cracking and whining. A yell, a warning, as the sound of gunfire seemed to bounce off tall, flickering tongues of flame, creeping up the walls. Two figures, short and tall, began to cower, backing into shadowy corners; her dry throat unable to call out to them and plead, beg them to come back.

The burning light threw the aggressors into sharp relief, bone white masks twisting and fusing with their faces, glints of gleaming red eyes shining through. Their forms contorted and grew monstrous. She wanted to run to her parents and she wanted to run into the shadows. She stood frozen.

And then she heard the unearthly screaming; a combination of scraping metal and the roar of a grimm. She turned to the sound. A pallid white face, streaked with winding red veins, towered above the building, and gripped the walls of her burning home. The timber came apart with a horrific tearing sound. The black dead eyes fixated on her petrified form and lunged.

-

Blake awoke with a start, breathing heavily. She immediately tensed at the glimpse of movement above her only to realise it was the shadows of the trees outside dancing across the ceiling. She clutched the sheets underneath her, grounding herself as the panic slowly eased out of her consciousness. _Just a dream._

She looked to her left, the slightest of hopes that the bed next to her would still be occupied bubbled up inside her. But of course, Yang was gone. Blake dropped her head back on her pillow. It had been nearly a week and they still hadn’t spoken outside of a group setting.

She knew Weiss was right, and that if she really wanted to find out how Yang felt she would have to talk to her, but it did seem as though Yang was avoiding any situation where they would be alone together, which was impressive considering they shared a room.

Blake chewed on her lip, and looked over at Yang’s bed again. It was still very early, and dawn light hadn’t broken yet. _The others won’t be up for a while._ Blake made a hasty decision, and got up. A week was far too long to have not tried to fix anything. _It’s time I stop running._

-

A shifting and prowling chiaroscuro surrounded her; a dense, dark, dust cloud in a brilliantly white void. Or perhaps a fluttering bright mist in a blackened abyss. Formless but constantly forming; shapes she was on the cusp of recognising before they split and delicately shattered and returned to the mass. They pressed forwards and pulled away just as suddenly. She felt uneasy, endangered. Vulnerable.

The darkest of the hazy particles swarmed and merged; a bent and hulking shape slowly edged forwards.

_Beware._ A voice whispered in her mind.

The black pulled itself out of the white and continued towards her, holding its shape, growing more solid.

Abruptly, it rushed towards her; a flock of swooping birds, the pounce of jungle cat, and the splatter of inky paint all at once. Her chest constricted. Her senses were overwhelmed with black. _Now panic._

_NO_. The cry was a scream and a yell that echoed for days. The darkness shattered with an unearthly, yet animalistic groan, and the brilliant white emerged from behind it and pierced her sight, painfully blinding her. In the light, another shape began to form.

-

Ruby woke suddenly, eyelids fluttering tiredly. A beam of light had crept in below the curtain, shining brightly onto her face. She squinted and shaded her eyes as her sleep-addled mind blearily and instinctively rolled away from the light, pulling her blanket tightly up over her aching head. A half-forgotten dream slipped away as she gently succumbed to sleep once more.

-

Blake hadn’t had to look far to find Yang. She had been worried that Yang would whisk herself away into the city to submerge herself in distractions, but it only took looking out one window.

Yang had found a training dummy that Blake had seen sitting in the training room of the house. It stood tall in the middle of the reddish dirt out the back, swaying slightly in the light chilly breeze, seemingly released from its duty. Yang herself was dressed in light exercise gear, leaning on the railing overlooking the cliff. The early morning sun was making the first appearance of the day and gently silhouetting her figure. Blake could see from the rising and fall of her shoulders than she was breathing heavily, and the faint sweat on her shoulders gleamed in the light. _I couldn’t hear her training from our room._

Blake slowly stepped out into the yard and quietly approached Yang, a little worried that moving too quickly might make her elusive teammate skittish, scaring her off. _She’s not wild animal_ , Blake chided herself. Yang didn’t turn around until Blake had reached the guard rail, and only gave Blake a slight glance before resuming her quiet musing.

The view over the cliff was beautiful, with a skyline that spanned for miles over a sparsely built area below that hid many deeper layers of the city. Blake leaned on the rail and felt the delicate wind pick up and pull at her hair. This silence with Yang was the closest they had been in a very long time. At Beacon, they used to switch between going on Yang’s adventures and sitting in Blake’s peace and quiet. Yang had been a great companion for either.

Which is why Blake was reluctant to break this truce of sorts. She was grateful that Yang hadn’t immediately walked away, considering all that had happened between them. But it would be selfish to just stand and enjoy Yang’s company while she knew her friend had a lot on her mind. As she opened her mouth, she felt a strong sense of regret that she was about to ruin this moment.

‘Aren’t we training as a team later? I thought being an overachiever was Weiss’ thing?’

Yang lazily glanced over at her voice, and stretched her arms over her head with a long sigh.

‘Yeah. I was just feeling energetic. But I’ve given up for now.’ Her sentences came out short and apathetic. But she had spoken, and that was enough for Blake. Yang had permitted a conversation between them, alone, and it bolstered Blake’s confidence a little.

‘Can we talk?’

Yang paused, one hand firmly holding an elbow, her eyes fixated on the horizon. ‘About what?’

Blake raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t expected Yang to try and play dumb. ‘About how you’re feeling?’

She saw Yang’s expression shift into a slight frown for a second before smoothing out. _She’s not going to make this easy._

‘You found your mother.’ Yang’s eyes widened just slightly, and her head flicked around to Blake. _Oh, that surprised her._ ‘How did it go?’

Yang looked down at her hands resting on the rail and fidgeted with the joints on her knuckles. ‘I didn’t have any expectations,’ eventually came the response, ‘Or I guess maybe I had spent years running through every possible scenario, that I had too many expectations.’

When it appeared that Yang wasn’t going to offer up further information on her own, Blake continued, hoping to gently prompt more of a response.

‘Weiss says that she was kidnapped?’ Blake commented, brushing her hair behind an ear and trying to sound as non-confrontational as possible.

Yang let out a long deep breath and grasped the rail, leaning heavily. ‘Yeah,’ she admitted with a sheepish nod, ‘Apparently she grabbed Weiss after her airship crashed and was planning on ransoming her back to her father.’

‘Oh.’

‘So she’s clearly a model parent,’ Yang deadpanned. She was aiming for apathetic, but her expression was defeated and disappointment emanated off her in waves.

‘You were hoping she would be someone else.’

‘Well duh,’ Yang responded immediately, a hint of fire in her tone, ‘Does _anyone_ hope that their long lost parent is an unashamed criminal with next to no regard for human life?’ Yang grew more heated with every word. Blake bit her lip. While prompting an outburst from Yang was probably not the smartest idea, there was something at least reminiscent of her old friend. The Yang she used to know would never have hidden her emotions, whether good or bad.

‘Her tribe burned down villages and killed innocent people,’ Yang pushed off the rail, becoming agitated, ‘her bandits tried to ambush me and steal my bike. I punched them out in like two seconds. They weren’t even _good_ at being criminals!’ Yang was fuming by this point, her fists clenched by her sides as she stared down at her feet.

‘I’m sorry that she ended up disappointing you after all this time,’ Blake said softly, unable to offer any righteous anger to fuel Yang further.

Yang remained tense and silent for while, and then deflated, looking back up at the horizon. ‘Yeah well, I should have known better. She did walk out on me eighteen years ago. It would have been naïve to hope she had a good reason. She was just a coward who ran away.’ Blake felt the sting of those last words and stared down at her hands.

Yang pushed off the rail and grabbed her towel from where it was lying at her feet.

‘Yang- ’

‘It’s nearly 8am, we’re going to be late for Ruby’s training.’ Blake watched Yang walk back into the house without another word.

-

Weiss had been rolling her eyes since she left the house. Walking down to a clearing near Academy, she had been suffering Ruby’s excessive enthusiasm all morning. There were times when it was uplifting. And then there were times when she wanted to aggressively drag Ruby’s hood down over her face to muffle the constant stream of excitable noise.

Today, she was somewhere in the middle, and she suspected that had a lot to do with the travel mug of coffee in her hands. _A dose of hyper Ruby needs to be accompanied by coffee_ , she decided to herself, taking another long sip before forcing herself to tune back in.

‘- And it’s just been so long since we were all together. Do you think Blake learnt any cool new moves while she away? I mean your new semblance ability is pretty awesome, so it’ll be hard to top that, but she might have something neat up her sleeve. I want to fight her. Or maybe you should fight Yang. Or maybe- ’

Weiss closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She let out a deep sigh, which went unnoticed, or ignored, by Ruby, before opening her eyes again. ‘Hey, is this the place?’

Ruby’s rambling stopped abruptly as she peered down the path. The area was spacious and quiet, accompanied by the melodious chirping of nearby birds. It was a large grassy field,  with a few log benches to the side, and strewn with patches of dirt where the ground had been kicked up and scuffed by the many feet that had trampled it. Given the proximity to Haven, Weiss guessed that it was one of their off-campus training grounds for class demonstrations.

‘Yep! This is it. And Yang and Blake are already here.’

Weiss raised her eyebrows at the sight of the two of them. They were standing slightly apart in silence, Blake was examining the area and Yang was playing on her scroll. She had thought that Yang was at least attempting to maintain appearances, but it seemed as if they were uncomfortable around each other.

‘Hey guys! Are you ready to rumble?’ Ruby dashed forwards. Yang stuck her scroll back in her pocket and jumped into an overly-dramatic wrestling champion pose, flexing every muscle she could think of. Weiss snorted at the display and Yang snapped her finger-guns in response.

‘Yeah we’re ready,’ Blake said softly.

‘Okay okay okay okay!’ Ruby was practically bouncing by the time Weiss had finally reached the group. ‘We’re going to spar!’

‘That’s it?’ Weiss asked incredulously. Sparring was pretty basic training and Ruby generally tried to shake it up.

‘Sort of.’ Ruby grinned. ‘So team RWBY. We’ve all gone our separate ways for a while and it’s time to return to basics. Blake and Weiss are going to fight.’

Weiss met Blake’s eyes, and Blake shrugged. They had sparred together many times before.

‘But no semblances!’ They both turned back to Ruby in surprise. Yang also seemed puzzled. Ruby crossed her arms and took an authoritative pose. _Well, maybe Zwei finds it authoritative._ ‘I don’t know where Blake stands in terms of her skills over the last year and Weiss has a super cool new semblance power. But I want to see how you are both going with your weapon proficiency.’

‘Okay,’ Blake said simply, walking to the middle of the clearing, ‘No semblances.’

‘Right,’ Weiss responded, a little more uncertainly. She had spent a lot of time focused on developing her summoning, it had been a while since she had devoted her energy to pure swordsmanship and dust.

‘Yup. Also, stay here in the clearing, I don’t want to chase you guys around.’ _So no cover or environmental factors to facilitate evasive manoeuvres._ Weiss pursed her lips. Once upon a time she might have thought these elements were coincidental but now she had a strong suspicion that Ruby knew exactly what she was doing and was looking for very specific results.

Weiss moved to stand opposite to Blake and unsheathed Myrtenaster. She balanced the weapon in her hand, finding its centre of gravity before tightly closing her grip. She gave it a flourish, preparing herself. Blake drew both halves of Gambol Shroud without ceremony, and calmly waited.

Weiss had always been very jealous of Blake’s quiet confidence in her own abilities. She was also highly aware that Blake’s weapon had a wider variety of attacks; a variety that Weiss would have compensated with her semblance. She was already at a slight disadvantage. _When did I become so apprehensive?_

Weiss stood tall and positioned her feet. _Blake will use a range of slashing style-_

‘Start!’

There was a black blur before her as Blake moved immediately to the offensive. Weiss gripped Myrtenaster firmly, raising her elbow and holding the point directly toward the direction of the attack, and used the split second to locate Blake’s first strike.

A flash of thin black metal rushed towards her face, slicing from the left of her vision, and Weiss quickly angled her blade to follow the strike, Blake’s weapon gliding along the edge with a trail of sparks. Weiss gave a slight thrust and knocked the blade inches away from her head. _First strike was from her right hand, next will be from her left._

Weiss glanced to her right to locate Blake’s next attack. Blake, however, used the momentum from her slice to rotate her body, pivoting on her right foot and bringing her left leg into a swift kick aimed at Weiss’ knees. Weiss pulled back quickly, before rapidly returning Myrtenaster to position as Blake’s second slice came at the same angle as the first. _She’s trying to throw me off balance, but as long as I maintain poise I should be able to hold her attacks at bay._

Weiss quickly repositioned her feet and parried off the next couple of strikes with only slight adjustments, as Blake tested her angles. _There’s not enough time between attacks to switch between my dust types. Even if there were, I wouldn’t have time to prepare and aim the attack._ Blake’s foot came at her head and Weiss, bracing her blade with her right hand against the force, pushing Blake back into a flip. _One, two, thr-_ Blake had already dashed forward to continue her barrage.

Weiss scowled. _Even if I push her back, she recovers quickly. She’s deliberately trying to prevent me from preparing a stronger attack because she knows she has the advantage in rapid close combat._ Weiss watched as Blake moved to swing twice from the same high-left angle, hoping to force Weiss’ parry on the first and catch her on the second. Weiss had to admit it was clever. Blake seemed to be taking note of every advantage she had in the battle and was exploiting all of them.

Weiss narrowed her eyes. _I’m not that easily defeated._ She turned side on, her left shoulder towards the oncoming hit, and quickly raised Myrtenaster up as though to angle the weapon in the same initial parry, to redirect Blake’s attacks to her right. She watched carefully as Blake’s katana came down, noting the sheath was already coming down at a lower angle to avoid her defence. _Not yet._ She held her position for a moment longer; the first strike from Gambol Shroud drew closer. _Now._ Weiss abruptly swapped hands, seeing the confusion, and then realisation in Blake’s eyes, as Weiss’ momentum suddenly shifted counterclockwise. With her new grip, she flicked her blade down across her left shoulder, timed precisely to trap Blake’s katana in the guard of her foil. There was a satisfying scraping of metal as the blades locked and Weiss continued to pirouette with her momentum, Myrtenaster now angled low enough to take the hit of the second attack head on and push both halves of Gambol Shroud safely off to the left. She used the rest her pivot to bring her foot into the back of Blake’s knee and Blake staggered with the combination of the push and her sudden shift in direction.

Weiss pulled back quickly, as Blake did the same, unlocking her weapon from Weiss’. She heard Ruby and Yang’s quiet ‘ooooh’ at the clash. They paused and watched each other, Weiss was dimly aware of the wind rustling the leaves around them, brushing her hair across her face. She trained her focus on her on racing heartbeat and maintaining her footing in the soft grass, calmly moving her blade back to her left hand.

Weiss made eye contact and Blake gave a little smirk in response, to which Weiss raised her eyebrows. _I need the offensive. I can defend all I want but I won’t land a hit on her unless I dominate this next bout of strikes._

She saw the same sudden blur as Blake dashed forwards, but instead of holding her ground she ducked under Blake’s swing, rebounding the attack with a slight block and thrusting forward towards Blake’s exposed back.

Only for Blake to backflip over Myrtenaster and begin swinging again with much more ferocity. _Dammit. Not only does she have the weapon advantage, but her whole fighting technique is dependent on fast, evasive manoeuvring._ As Blake began to extend the field of the fight beyond frontal assaults, Weiss responded in kind. Her particular fencing technique allowed her plenty of mobility and her method of defence only required slight adjustment to each incoming attack, conserving energy for the perfect strike.

Blake sliced at her midriff and Weiss threw herself backwards under the blade, narrowly avoiding collision. She heard the sound of wind splitting and rushing, and quickly swapped weapon hands in mid-backflip. She used her dominant left hand to land the flip, and push back into the air, while flicking Blake’s second attack out of range with Myrtenaster. _Hmm couldn’t get me with that one,_ she thought smugly as she directed her landing.

The crack of a gunshot, drew Weiss’ attention as she looked to dodge a direct hit. A spinning black object swung past her peripheral vision and she heard it landed solidly in the ground behind her. Weiss glanced up and realised Blake was running to one side, using the anchor point of her gun to create a perfect arc to launch her next attack from, and wrapping Weiss in the process. _Oh._

Weiss again somersaulted over the enclosing ribbon before it could trap her and planted Myrtenaster in her place. Blake’s whip wrapped around the new pivot point, and Weiss re-gripped her sword and wrenched it upwards with enough force to dislodge Blake’s anchoring gun and wrap it more tightly around the blade. Blake, realising her weapon was now interlinked with Weiss’, released the ribbon and charged with full force and her second blade. Weiss gripped Myrtenaster with both hands and powerfully swung it in an arc, bringing gun-whip with it, the two weapons now acting as a flail. The attack narrowly missed Blake as she vaulted herself towards Weiss, grasping her treacherous semi-automatic as it flew by her head, and firing point blank at Weiss from above. Weiss just barely avoided the onslaught by rolling under an airborne Blake, and parrying the remaining shots.

They both rolled out of their dodges and turned to face each other again. Ruby let out a loud cheer, but Weiss was gearing herself up to charge and try and get Blake on the back foot, and saw her opponent readying herself for the same.

‘Okay!’ Weiss halted herself mid-step and looked to Ruby. ‘That was badass. You guys are the coolest.’ Weiss straightened herself up and turned to face them fully. She saw Blake sheath her weapon.

‘Wasn’t that the best?’ Ruby appealed to Yang who nodded, very impressed. ‘Ugh I love going back to basics.’

‘You guys are still pretty damn good,’ Yang agreed. Weiss felt the adrenaline coursing through her as she tried to come down from her combat high.

‘Were you expecting us not to be?’ She responded, a little put off at how enthralled they were by what she considered subpar performance.

‘Well, honestly,’ Ruby began, and Weiss’ mouth fell open, ‘I was a little worried we’d all started to lose focus without the formal training of Beacon.’ Weiss slowly closed her mouth, and waited for Ruby to finish before the onset of outrage. ‘I mean we’ve all been focusing on either personal problems or Salem that I don’t know if we’d dedicated enough time to honing our skills.’

Ruby placed her hands on her hips and grinned. ‘But Blake hasn’t gotten sloppy, and Weiss hasn’t grown dependent on her semblance, so you guys are still on top of your form.’

Weiss blinked a couple of times before fully taking in what Ruby had said. ‘You thought I had become dependent on my semblance?’

‘Well, no, but I know you said your training had been focused on it. I wanted to make sure you remembered that you were still pretty good without your summoning.’

‘It’s true,’ Blake agreed, ‘It was a short fight but you fended me off pretty well with just your swordsmanship.’

‘Oh,’ Weiss responded, still uncertain as to whether this was some kind of intervention.

‘It’s a good thing, Weiss,’ Yang spoke up, ‘You’re good at this. You’ve probably studied harder than the rest of us combined. Trust me when I say none of us have any doubt about your ability.’

‘Yeah, we think you totally kick butt.’ Ruby gave her a thumbs up. Weiss felt a small smile come over her face.

‘Well thank you, I suppose? But I didn’t actually win this fight, you stopped us.’

‘Eh, well, Blake has more experience with that specific sort of fighting, whereas you also work at range and with dust. The next fight is with semblances, then we’ll see who wins.’

Weiss smirked and saw Blake casually stroll toward the middle of the field again, a smug grin on her face.

‘Come on Schnee, let’s see how you do now.’

-

They all trudged back up the hill towards the house, long after the evening had set. Ruby had kept them working hard, herself included, and they were all feeling the exhaustion creeping over them. Ruby didn’t think they had worked this hard, and for so long, since their mission with Doctor Oobleck, but it felt so good to work the familiar muscles and develop their team bonding.

She knew she shouldn’t have had anything to worry about, but with Blake and Yang in some weird limbo, and working out how to incorporate Weiss’ new ability, Ruby had been very concerned they their synchronisation in battle would be affected.

Her fears were unfounded though, Blake and Yang worked in perfect harmony, and hadn’t taken too much adjustment to RWBY team attacks to account for the summonings.

Ruby had been worried about her own combat ability as well, when she thought of how easily she was disarmed and knocked out at Haven. Despite a near flawless training session, there were certain aspects of this war with Salem that couldn’t be replicated, and hence couldn’t be prepared for. She felt the familiar pressure behind her eyes, though the ringing headaches had worn off a few days after the battle. She just wanted to _ask_ someone.

Yang pushed through the back door of the house, noisily knocking their announcement as she entered, and Ruby was pulled from her thoughts. She looked around the living room to find a bunch of packed bags and team JNPR and Oscar eating instant noodles.

‘I take it we’re leaving?’ Yang asked. Qrow stalked into the room.

‘Yeah, you guys packed your stuff?’ He looked around them expectantly and sighed when it became obvious they had not. ‘Leave behind anything you can’t carry for long periods of time.’

‘What’s the plan?’ Ruby asked hesitantly.

‘Tomorrow we start our walk to Windpath. I got us these.’ He held up some stamped passes. ‘Should get us quickly through the gates out of the kingdom. Really had to twist some arms for them too.’

‘You think it’s safe?’

‘Well, no more or less safe than anywhere else we would be going. My research has determined that while Windpath is filled with criminal activity, it seems fairly divided and dispersed. It’s the best chance we have.’

‘We’ll pack now then,’ Weiss said firmly. She and Blake moved to head upstairs, but Ruby noticed Yang seemed to be deep in thought. She sidled closer.

‘What’s up?’

Yang glanced over. ‘Bumblebee.’

‘Can’t you just ride it there?’

Yang shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. I’d be going a lot faster than you guys, or rumbling along slowly. I’m also probably the only person who actually knows how to ride it anyway.’

‘It might be handy if someone gets tired? They can ride on the back. We would have killed for your bike when Qrow was injured.’

Yang sigh and scratched her head. ‘It’s also far more likely to get stolen when we get to Windpath. And even after Windpath, we’re trying to find someway to get to Atlas right? What if that ends up meaning we stowaway in some tiny cargo hold? Then what?’

‘Hmm,’ Ruby scrunched her brow in thought, ‘Yeah, I guess. What are you thinking of doing?’

‘Well,’ Yang pulled up her scroll, and began flicking through webpages, ‘You remember when we were asking around those shipping yards? I know a couple of them did personal delivery.’

‘Send it back to dad then,’ Ruby said decidedly. ‘You won’t have to pay for storage and if we really need it in Atlas we can try and contact him to ship it back. It might just take a few months to get across the borders.’

Yang pondered for a moment, ‘You’re right, that’s probably the best option.’ She seemed quite downcast at the thought of leaving her bike behind, but shook it off with a shrug. ‘I’m going to head out now before the shipping offices all close.’

‘Woah, wait. It’s late, I’m coming with you.’

Yang raised her eyebrows at that. ‘Ruby, I know it’s a little more dangerous here than Vale but I think I can handle walking across the city by myself.’

‘It’s not your average criminals I’m worried about,’ Ruby replied defiantly, ‘There are so many people still out there somewhere. Emerald, Mercury, Hazel. Your mom. Maybe Cinder?’ She added the next one quietly. ‘Adam is still out there too.’

Yang frowned and firmly crossed her arms, almost ready to argue. Instead, she sighed in defeat. ‘Yeah. Let’s go.’

-

The ride across the city had been quite pleasant. Yang had driven them along the lakefront again, still just as active and crowded as in the mornings, if a little colder in the bracing night air. Ruby had watched the moon brightly reflected along the water, distorted by the ripples of the uneven surface, clinging tightly to her sister’s waist. The shipping offices had been easy enough to locate, though mostly closed for the night. Surprisingly, it had been the Council owned company that was still open for business, and the arrangements and forms were remarkably painless to fill out. Ruby had a sneaking suspicion it was to combat the unsanctioned alternatives.

As quick as it had been to cross the city, the journey back on foot would take at least an hour and was mostly uphill. Ruby knew this was the ideal time to question Yang, but she was honestly just enjoying her big sister time. Yang had playfully swung an arm over Ruby’s shoulder and was pointing out all the crazy late-night city antics and laughing at the absurdity that was an uninhibited and slightly intoxicated population. It made Ruby’s heart cry out for an easier time, when everyday was a carefree day spent with Yang and the worst she’d have had to worry about was your run-of-the-mill mugger. Though a mugger had hardly ever been a concern with Yang around.

‘I miss Vale,’ Yang said sadly after twenty minutes of mostly silence.

‘Yeah me too,’ Ruby replied quietly, watching their footsteps fall in sync.

‘I wonder if it will ever be the same again. Like, if we’ll ever go there again and it will be like those weekend trips dad took us on.’

‘I don’t know if Vale will change, or if we will,’ Ruby murmured quietly. Yang silently pointed out a man who was fighting a flock of gulls for ownership of his dinner, though this time neither of them laughed.

‘Sometimes,’ Ruby said in a whisper, ‘I wonder how we’re going to come out of this okay.’ She sucked in a breath, surprised at herself for voicing thoughts she’d never truly allowed herself to contemplate. ‘Everything is so insane and I just don’t know what to do. Or if what we’re doing is the right thing to do.’ She hurriedly bit her lip, trying to stave off the outpouring of doubts.

Yang halted their walking and clapped her hand on Ruby’s shoulder. ‘Wait here.’

‘What? Where are you going?’ She called out after Yang who had disappeared into a 24/7 café. Ruby sighed and leant back against an old-fashioned, bronzed lamp post; an artifact of the not-so-distant past. She remembered her astonishment when Vale had stripped them out and replaced them with holograms, dazzling the streets with futuristic technology.

There was at least that to look forward to in Atlas. If she allowed herself to detach from the whole apocalyptic nightmare, her inner child was excited to see the crazy, cool new technology on offer. She doubted there would be something as simple as a physical street light in Atlas.

As she pictured holographic skateboards and microchip scrolls, Yang suddenly reappeared with two giant milkshakes and Ruby’s eyes widened beyond what should have been physically possible.

‘Yang!’ She bounced enthusiastically, ‘Ah, this is the best! Thank you!’

Yang swung her arm back around Ruby and started walking again. ‘I don’t know why you’re thanking me. These are both mine.’ Ruby scowled and tried to grab at the one now dangling over her shoulder. Yang put up a playful fight for a while before acquiescing and letting Ruby have it. Their noisy slurping echoed through the streets as they moved away from the nightlife centre of Mistral.

‘Seems like you’re the same to me,’ Yang spoke up after a while, a soft smile on her face. ‘And as long as part of you is still Ruby, then a part of me will always be Yang. No matter how much we have to go through.’

‘I think it’s the other way around. It’s the Yang that makes the Ruby.’ Yang snorted at that.

‘Well, I guess we’d better just keep being ourselves then,’ she replied, booping Ruby’s nose with her cold cup.

They resumed their comfortable silence for another ten minutes before Ruby felt compelled to speak up.

‘Hey, Yang?’

‘Yeah?’ Yang replied absent-mindedly.

‘Did something happen with you and Blake this morning?’ Yang’s slowly turned to face Ruby, but she was encouraged by the fact that they hadn’t stopped walking and that Yang hadn’t removed her arm. ‘You guys just seemed to be acting weirdly when Weiss and I showed up.’

Yang sighed and took a long slurp of her drink. ‘Yeah, she asked about my mom.’

‘Oh.’ Ruby wasn’t really sure what to say. After everything, she hadn’t expected that to be the thing the Blake asked about.

‘I got mad.’ Yang added after a moment. ‘Well, maybe not mad. More… I don’t know. Frustrated?’

Ruby wrapped her arm around Yang’s waist, and leaned her head against Yang’s shoulder.

‘I don’t even know who I was more angry at.’ Yang let out a long breath. ‘I wish…’ She trailed off and looked up to the sky. Ruby followed her gaze to the long, slow clouds above them as they billowed gently across the moon. It was calming. ‘I wish things could go back to the way they were with me and Blake.’

‘What do you mean?’ Ruby had an inkling but would rather not put words in Yang’s mouth.

‘I miss her.’ Ruby heard Yang swallow hard. ‘I want to be able to talk to her about this stuff. My mother. My arm. Salem. I want to be able to do it without remembering what it was like to wake up in a warzone and finding out that she ran.’

Yang threw her empty cup in a nearby bin as they walked past, but there was no fire and anger behind the movement. Only apathy; or maybe defeat. She cuddled in closer to her big sister and felt Yang’s arm tighten around her shoulder. Even if it was mechanical now, the fact that it was _Yang’s_ and it carried Yang’s intentions meant it felt just as reassuring as it always had.

‘You think that will ever go away? Will you forgive her?’ Ruby asked, with no judgement in her voice.

‘I don’t know. I don’t know how to forgive her when it still feels like she’s running. Sometimes it just hurts when I talk to her and I’m not sure if it will go away anytime soon. And that hurts more.’

‘I hope it does get better. For both of you,’ Ruby sighed. After a moment she added, ‘I’m glad you’re here Yang. I missed you a lot too, and I’m happy you’re here doing this with me.’

‘Always,’ Yang said with a squeeze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme know what you think or if there are any typos.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I'm super inconsistent which I really didn't expect to be a problem if I'd already written it.
> 
> Also! I'm aware that some of this stuff is no longer fitting with canon, so please be forgiving. I should definitely have posted it before the new volume started.
> 
> Unbeta'd again so let me know if you find any mistakes.

Weiss adjusted the straps on her backpack for the third time since leaving Mistral and still couldn’t get them quite right. She had a sneaking suspicion it was because she had never actually worn a backpack before and the unbalanced pressure on her shoulders misaligned her posture in an unforgivable manner.

They had only been walking for an hour since leaving the gates and she was already feeling downtrodden. Ruby had warned her to expect the worst when it came to travelling on foot, but Weiss had brushed it off as another of Ruby’s over-dramatic agonies. Unfortunately, it seemed to be true.

The sun was blindingly bright as it rose in front of them, and somehow the tree cover only served to make the few gaps where the light shone through even brighter. They walked along narrow winding path, wide enough for four of them to stand side-by-side, and knotted on both sides by a dense, but vibrantly green, moss-coated forest that shuddered with each sweep of the heavy, damp wind. The ground was uneven, hard in some places and soft in others; a tangle of roots as the forest pressed in to reclaim the path inch by inch, making it near impossible to establish a consistent walking rhythm. Her bag straps itched against her dress and Weiss’ mood continued to sour.

‘Heya, Weiss,’ Ruby said with a grin, ‘How are you going?’

‘Fine,’ Weiss replied bluntly, eyes forward on the seemingly endless path before them.

‘Hah, you didn’t believe me. It sucks hard, right?’

Weiss turned to face her with a scowl. ‘Yes. This is terrible and we’ve barely started. I don’t understand why it’s so much worse than on our other missions.’ She desperately fought against the whiny tone that was slipping through into her voice, without much success.

‘Because’, Ruby triumphantly raised a finger in the air, ‘There are no shortcuts.’ It was delivered with the wisdom of an aged teacher, passing on a millennia of knowledge to her successor.

‘What?’ Weiss asked flatly, already unimpressed with whatever response Ruby was about to give. It had been a pointless statement; of course there were no shortcuts. They were already on the shortest, most direct path to Windpath.

‘On our other missions,’ Ruby began, with an irritatingly smug tone that suggested she was enjoying their role-reversal, ‘we had an objective that we could accidentally meet at any moment. When we searched south-east Vale, it was easy to keep going because we might’ve discovered the White Fang at any moment, and ended the search. When we were in the Emerald Forest on our first days, we needed to find the relics, which could have been just inches away.’

‘What’s your point Ruby?’ Weiss asked tiredly, once again tugging her left strap into place.

‘My point is that this mission won’t end quickly. There is one place to go to and there is one way of getting there. We’re not about to accidentally stumble upon Windpath. There’s nothing we can do to shorten the time to get there so it becomes boring easily. There’s nothing we can do except walk.’

‘How depressing.’

‘Hey, I did this for months trying to get to Mistral! You took one airship and then freaking teleported! That’s so unfair.’ Weiss snorted at Ruby’s indignation.

‘So how did you entertain yourselves then, oh wise worldly traveller?’ Weiss asked mockingly.

‘Oh, we mostly talked.’ Ruby’s mood declined suddenly, her head drooping down to look at her shoes. ‘Sometimes about Beacon and… everything. Mostly about each other.’ She lifted her head back up. ‘I learnt a lot about Jaune, Ren, and Nora over that time. That was nice, I guess.’

Weiss bit her lip at the sight of her disheartened leader. ‘Well, what do you want to talk about then?’ Ruby seemed surprised at the offer.

‘Uh, I don’t know, we could talk about you? What was it like growing up for you?’

Weiss hesitated, realising she should have anticipated this by letting Ruby pick the subject. ‘You already know a lot about my life, don’t you?’

‘Sort of. You don’t really talk very personally about your family apart from that stuff with Yang the other week. What are your siblings like?’

‘Well, you’ve met Winter. She’s very firm but fair.’ Weiss pursed her lips in thought as she contemplated her older sister, subconsciously lifting her chin and attempting to correct her posture while hampered by her clunky bag. Her mind flitted between bruising training sessions and agonisingly silent study periods. A cool, stern stare, with haughtily clasped hands and a towering demeanour that Weiss never grew to match. And yet, each memory brought a warmth and gentleness, a firm, proud hand on her shoulder, that she couldn’t put into words that Ruby would understand. 

‘She looked out for me,’ Weiss said simply, brow furrowed when the words didn’t sound like enough, ‘When things were… hm, difficult.’

‘She sounds like a real Yang,’ Ruby said resolutely. Weiss raised her eyebrows in a silent question. ‘You know, stepping up and taking care of her little sister. Don’t get me wrong, my dad is the best and he took care of us. But he was busy a lot, being a single dad and all.’ Ruby’s face grew soft and the memories Weiss couldn’t voice were visible in the expression. ‘Yang looked out for me. Like Winter.’

Weiss’ gave a slight smile, and clutched her bag tighter. ‘Yes. She was there for me, but showed me how to be independent. She would have done the same for Whitley, but…’

‘You don’t get along with him right?’

‘Ha!’ Weiss’ laugh rang out across the quiet path, a couple of curious heads turning towards them, ‘That’s putting it lightly. He didn’t need Winter there for him because he had the most attention of the three of us. He idolised father, and somehow managed to pick up some of his less desirable traits when father was barely even around.’

Weiss paused to take a breath, and could see that Ruby was watching her very intently, seemingly sincerely interested in Weiss’ life.  _ I guess I’ll go all in. _

‘Winter was sixteen when our home life started to fall apart. She was already excelling at combat and was very vocal about her intent to join the military. Father had been equally vocal about his disapproval. When our parents stopped talking, Whitley went searching for Father’s attention, and unfortunately he picked up a lot of his disapproval towards Winter. About how she was too independent, or letting down the family business, or too much like mother, or whatever it was that day.’

‘Oh, man that must have been awful for Winter,’ Ruby said, concerned.

‘Well, the Schnee way is to be proper and polite in all situations, and father was no exception. It’s all in the tone and the snide, backhanded comments.’ Weiss fidgeted with her straps again. ‘Winter tried to be there for Whitley, but she was always reserved and Whitley was still at the age where mother and father still put in the effort for false smiles and exaggerated praise. He was just a kid, and I don’t think Winter’s brand of love was enough for him. And now… he’s just another copy of a shallow man.’

‘I’m really sorry, Weiss.’ Ruby reached out and put her hand on Weiss’ arm. ‘Your life sounds a lot harder than I used to believe.’

Weiss put her hand over Ruby’s, the grip awkward as they walked. ‘Why be sorry? I have an excellent sister and I turned out okay.’ She smiled. ‘I can put that behind me now; at least until we reach Atlas. Then maybe you’ll have a chance to meet my family.’

-

The weight of the relic against the small of Jaune’s back had become a familiar and almost reassuring sensation; the awkwardly shaped object seemingly fitting into place whenever it was returned to him. Over the weeks, it had been passed around in shifts, most frequently between Ren, Nora, Oscar and himself, though from time to time Ruby, Weiss and Blake helped too. They refrained from passing it to Yang or Qrow, despite the fact that travelling together put the relic at risk,  when either one could easily be shoved through a portal at any given time.

This had naturally resulted in good-humoured jokes on their part about how light their bags were, particularly whenever someone complained, but there was always a slight tension at the implications.

The relic now slid around Jaune’s back while he bent down among the undergrowth, scavenging for firewood. It was another minor frustration in a string of nuisances, another of which were the number of damp leaves that he had to peel off his armour where they stuck while he rummaged around. It had lightly rained earlier in the day, which has been somewhat discouraging in their search for kindling, but since their cross-country trek, Jaune had learnt all the survival tricks he would ever need and was loading his arms with thicker wood that could be stripped back to its dry core.

‘Hey Ren, you reckon this is enough? It was enough for the four of us, but I’m thinking we might need a bigger fire this time.’

‘Agreed,’ Ren nodded, ‘But it looks as though Nora has found plenty as well.’ He indicated the staggeringly huge armful of wood Nora was carrying towards them, that made Jaune’s load seem pitiful in comparison. Jaune grinned as she wobbled around, trying to keep her near-toppling pile balanced, and losing plenty of twigs in the process.

‘Come on, let’s head back.’

The three of them walked in silence for a distance, listening closely for any sounds of wildlife or grimm. It had grown dark, and they were taking a risk venturing away from the group in the low light. The night’s quiet was interrupted only by the chirping of crickets, the occasional screech of a bat, and distant echoing roars that served as a reminder of the surrounding danger.

‘Are you guys doing okay?’ Jaune murmured after a while, cautiously shuffling his feet through the underbrush. He could see their shared puzzled glance from the corner of his eye.

‘What do you mean? This is hardly a great burden.’ Ren lifted his bag full of nuts and kindling.

‘I meant with this whole trip. The mission.’

‘Well, what else can we do? Now that we know how bad it is, we have to do  _ something _ .’ Nora replied.

‘Yeah, you’re right,’ Jaune nodded, ‘I just wanted to check. Everything seems kind of a mess right now and I don’t really know about this plan of ours.’

‘It does seem very vague,’ Ren agreed, pulling back some low-hanging branches for them to pass.

‘And this relic,’ Jaune whispered, letting his thoughts run out loud, ‘Why can’t anyone tell us what it does? I thought that Ozpin was going to be more honest with us now.’

‘He’s not here right now to tell us,’ Nora pointed out.

‘He was though,’ Jaune muttered, ‘I think team RWBY are thinking the same thing.’

‘What do you want to do, Jaune?’ Nora asked as they entered the clearing of the campsite.

‘All we can do is keep going,’ Jaune replied quietly, watching as the rest of their party were unloading the essentials from their bags with minimal conversation, ‘We don’t have anything else to go on. And we can’t give up after everything we’ve put in.’

He gently lowered his pack to the ground at the camp and instantly felt relief in the muscles along his back, stretching them out to their fullest. With the relic was safely in arms length, Jaune pulled out a knife and began stripping back the logs.

-

Yang felt a gently nudge against her shoulder, pulling her out of a light sleep. She blinked her eyes into awareness, slowly adjusting to the deep night and the dull glow of the burning embers of the fire next to her. She swivelled her head around to see Weiss, presumably waking her up to swap watch shifts.

‘Hey,’ she murmured quietly, rubbing her eyes, ‘Is it two already?’

‘Yeah,’ Weiss whispered back, ‘I’ve been sitting out on that log over there. I heard some Grimm earlier from that direction but they were a long way off.’

Yang nodded her understanding and lifted herself off the mat. ‘Thanks, Weiss, get some rest.’

As soon as she slipped out from under her covers, the sharp chill hit her skin, lifting every hair on her body. ‘God, Weiss, it’s freezing, how are you alive right now?’ she hissed.

Weiss smirked in response as she got into the sleeping bag, ‘If you think this is cold you’re going to have a terrible time in Atlas.’

‘Ugh,’ was the only reply Yang could give as she went to shift the wood around the fire and rub some warmth back into her skin. Weiss’ quiet cough drew her attention back. Turning, she saw Weiss holding her mechanical arm up from where it had been laying next to the mat.

‘I think you might need this,’ she said dryly.

Yang grinned and grabbed it, ‘Only if we get attacked. Night, Weiss.’ She spent another minute blowing the flames into life and when satisfied at its growth, picked up the blanket Weiss had discarded and wrapped herself up tightly. She gave their sleeping party a once over: Ren, Nora, Jaune, and Oscar all bundled on the other side of the firepit, and Qrow haphazardly spread-eagled. Weiss delicately slipping into sleep by her feet, while Ruby, true to form, drooled unattractively and mumbled to herself. And Blake, calm and composed; her ears twitching while the firelight danced across her face, and reflected orange sparkles in her dark hair.

Yang clutched her blanket closer and wandered over to Weiss’ log. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on the result. Weiss had picked a good spot; they were high up on a hill with a steep decline that allowed Yang to see far around them. Or as far as the faint moonlight would allow.

The distant grimm howls were chilling, and every shifting shadow had Yang on her guard. She sighed and tapped her fingers against her arms, listening to the rustling of her teammates as they struggled to sleep comfortably. She wondered if it was the hard ground for the first time after their cosy Mistral beds. Or maybe it was just the result of the sort of exhaustion that made even closing your eyes tiring.

Time grew long and arduous, and Yang began a battle of attrition with her eyelids and heavy muscles, strangely unable to maintain any thoughts long enough to keep her company, but oddly relieved at the opportunity to not dwell in the parts her mind that awoke in the middle of lonely nights.

Still, every caw of a bird made her jump more than any howl, and her eyes watched for shapes in the skies more than between the trees. Yang was keenly aware of the peculiar prickling sensation on the back of her neck. And she just knew.

Raven was out there somewhere, watching.

Yang peered out into the darkness and watched back.

-

A deep sense of dread crept into Blake’s dreams before she fully registered the noise around her. Her eyes shot open to be greeted with early morning sun and the sound of Oscar yelling out for their attention.

She instinctively grabbed for Gambol Shroud where it lay just beside her fingers, and threw herself out of the sleeping bag. She could feel the vibrations of snarling from her left, making her ears quiver, and was already transforming her weapon into semi-automatic form.

She spun and shot rapidly towards a black mass that had encroached on their camp, discovering it to be an ursa with one foot frozen in place, presumably by Weiss. It roared in fury at the attacks, but was silenced by Nora’s hammer to the underside of it’s head.

Blake blinked and tried to survey the battlefield, feeling weary and unbalanced. The cracking of guns and grunts of exertion pulled her attention in all directions. She shook her head once to cast off the fuzziness of her sleep, and turned to the sound of yelling as Ruby and Jaune directed those that were closest to them. She moved to join them, but hesitated as the ground behind her rumbled, and she turned back to see two more ursa leap over the body of the first, which was collapsing in a heap of ash.

The one closest to her received Yang’s foot to it’s head, and Blake rushed forward to take the opportunity to slash at its exposed underside, slipping out from under it just as Yang leapt up and punch its head into the ground with an explosively loud shotgun blast. Blake stabbed her blade through its back shoulders, somewhat unnecessarily, to make sure it was dead. She nodded at Yang, and the gesture was returned.

Blake surveyed the rest of the battlefield that their campsite had become. Weiss and Nora had made short work of the second ursa, and it seemed the others also had their side under control. Blake had to admit that having a seasoned huntsman like Qrow around made these fights a lot easier. Considering how easily they overpowered the swarms of grimm that ambushed them, these fights were becoming less of a challenge and more of a nuisance.

Blake relaxed her combat stances and sheathed Gambol Shroud as Ruby beheaded a final beowolf. All in all, no more than a couple of minutes had passed since they woke up, but the disruption to their sleep would felt for the rest of the day. Blake stretched out, disappointed that this had to happen on the night where she had only just come off watch before Oscar took over.

It was only the third morning into their journey, and this was already their seventh encounter with grimm. From what she’d been told, Professor Lionheart had said that the infestation had been a growing problem since the Fall of Beacon, and it appeared that that fact at least hadn’t been a lie.

‘Aw man, the sun’s up,’ Ruby complained, rubbing her temples.

‘Yeah, we may as well start moving for the day,’ Qrow stated matter-of-factly.

Blake dropped to the ground and began rolling her sleeping bag up, feeling the shared lethargy of the group around her. Her fingers were working slowly as they recovered from the chilled morning air and had only just managed to tie the straps down when another growl came from the right. She reached to her back for her weapon, but Ren had already shot the small beowolf down.

Blake sighed. They would undoubtedly have several more encounters like this throughout the day, and there were at least another three days on their path. Three more days of quiet contemplation.

Weiss handed her an energy bar and a handful of nuts, and in return she passed Weiss some tinned tuna to share around. It wasn’t the most well combined meal, but it would do for the rest of their trip until they could eat more perishable food in a town.

The group ate their short breakfast in silence, and weren’t interrupted again until they had begun to walk.

‘Ugh, this is boring,’ Nora suddenly proclaimed, ‘Does anyone know any camp songs?’

‘Yeah, of course I know some camp songs.’ Jaune seemed almost offended that Nora had to ask. ‘I was voted best male vocalist by my family.’

‘Isn’t that contest only between you and your dad?’ Nora asked suspiciously.

‘Uh, well, yes.’ Jaune admitted sheepishly.

Blake caught Weiss’ eye as it rolled into the back of her skull, and they both snickered at the display of Nora quizzing Jaune on every possible camp song under the sun.

‘Oh boy,’ Qrow was hunched even further than usual, ‘I’m going to go scout ahead.’ He promptly transformed into a bird and disappeared from view.

‘Was that us?’ Jaune asked, perplexed.

‘I’m going to say it’s a strong possibility,’ Ruby answered, as a King Taijitu sprung silently from the nearby bushes at her neck, and a pack of beowolves descended from the right.

Blake once again drew Gambol Shroud with an air of weariness.  _ Three days isn’t that long, right? _

-

The enormous hulking mass of grimm hit the ground at Weiss’ feet with a harsh thump. She looked around her for her teammates and could see the rest of the group scattered among the trees where they had been driven by the creatures. The forest floor was littered with the disintegrating bodies of their attackers.

She stepped delicately over the dead creature before her and made her way over to the others. It had been a particularly brutal fight, even with Qrow’s help, and they were all feeling their limits. Fortunately, being driven into dense forest terrain worked more to their advantage than it did to the massive grimm.  _ They aren’t known for their intelligence. _

Weiss carefully walked around the smouldering wreck of a fallen tree and reached her team as they began to move back towards the road. Jaune and Nora had already started cracking jokes, with Oscar doubling over with laughter. Ahead of her, Blake and Yang called something out to make Jaune blush with a guilty smile, and the group laugh harder.

She couldn’t help but feel it was a bit surreal how quickly a fight like that was shrugged off. As a group, they seemed to be growing more desensitised to the exhaustion and violence that befell them. Weiss sighed and stretched her shoulders out as they broke through the tree line and found the winding road again.

She glanced to Ruby, who had been surprisingly quiet at the opportunity to playfully tease Jaune, and the sight drew her face into an instant frown. Ruby was walking beside her, with a hand on her temple, her eyes seemingly unable to focus on what was going on around her.

‘What’s wrong?’ Weiss whispered, with a sudden, fierce tightness in her chest. Ruby didn’t often make a fuss when wounded, but if she was hurt she would usually say something, to at least crack jokes about her injuries. This dazed and oblivious Ruby was not something Weiss was familiar with.

Ruby looked up at her voice and Weiss was relieved that she wasn’t as unresponsive as she first appeared. Her relief was quickly dashed however, when Ruby immediately winced at the movement of her head.

‘Uh... I um...’ Ruby tried to snap herself out of her stupor, slowly squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Rubes?’ Weiss looked ahead to see Yang had turned around and noticed Ruby’s state as well. Yang and Blake fell back into step with them. Weiss glanced to the rest of group who were further ahead and hadn’t realised there was an issue.

‘I… my head,’ Ruby said by way of explanation, ‘It’s fine,’ she said to reassure them, ‘I mean it hurts but I’m used to it.’

They all shared a look of surprise.  _ She’s  _ **_used_ ** _ to it? _

‘What do you mean you’re used to it? What’s the matter?’ Weiss asked, her hands hovering around looking for some way to help.

‘My head sometimes hurts… behind my eyes. Um, like at Beacon,’ Ruby seemed to grow more lucid as she spoke, though she still moved slowly.

‘Beacon?’ Yang questioned, watching Ruby’s face intently.

‘Do you mean the attack?’ Blake tried to clarify.

Ruby nodded slowly, ‘Yeah after the attack, and the grimm on the tower. My head hurt so much. Like pressure. Then I guess I passed out.’ She seemed to attach to the thought she was looking for. ‘And then it happened again after Haven.

‘When your silver eyes activated during the fight?’ Weiss realised.

‘You passed out,’ Yang stated, checking that they hadn’t drawn the attention of the rest of the group yet. Weiss wasn’t sure why they were keeping this a secret, but she was glad that they silently agreed this was a team thing until they worked out what was happening.  _ It’s better that she isn’t overloaded by everyone. _

‘My head hurt after that, and it sort of kept coming back afterwards... in waves. And now…’

‘Why does it hurt now? Is it residual from your unconsciousness at Haven?’ The battle of Haven had been nearly two weeks ago, and if Ruby was still feeling the aftereffects, then Weiss had cause to worry..

‘No. It stopped after a while. I think it was just this attack. It wasn’t even that bad a fight.’ Ruby muttered, seemingly annoyed at herself. ‘My eyes didn’t even do anything.’

Yang firmly put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder, in a physical gesture of the same protectiveness Weiss felt. ‘Do you want to tell Qrow? We need to understand this better.’

‘I don’t think he knows anything more. About how it works or anything. Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk about it.’ Ruby finally lowered her hand from where it had been resting against her temple. ‘But I’ll tell him how it’s affecting me. I wish Ozpin were here to tell me though, I’m sure he knows more.’

‘Weird that he hasn’t already told you more,’ Blake commented. ‘Didn’t you say he recognised your eyes the first time you met? Why hasn’t he talked to you about it yet?’

‘I’ve been wondering the same thing,’ Ruby said, and Weiss was surprised to hear slight bitterness in Ruby’s tone.  _ Has this been eating at her? Ruby doesn’t keep secrets. _

‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ Weiss vocalised her concerns, trying to keep her growing frustration at the team’s poor communication hidden.

‘I only really thought it was a problem when I actually used my eyes, and even then I thought it might just be tiredness. I guess I’ve only just realised that it was affecting me even in a normal fight.’ Ruby seemed apologetic, and Weiss felt guilty for her anger.

‘It’s okay,’ Yang said, her hand still on Ruby’s shoulder. ‘Just tell us if it starts to happen in a battle so we can cover you.’ Yang gave her an appraising up and down look. ‘Do you want a break from walking? Are you tired? I can carry you for a bit.’

Ruby snorted, and playfully shoved Yang. ‘My legs are fine.’

‘You want me to carry you just for fun then?’ Yang asked with a grin, clearly satisfied that Ruby was back to her normal self.

‘Pft, are you going to carry me for another two days?’

‘You don’t think I could do it? You’re tiny. I could probably just shove you in my bag and not even notice the difference.’

‘Hey!’

Weiss relaxed the tension in her shoulders. If Ruby was joking around with Yang then she was fine, at least for now, but Weiss could feel her mind preparing to mull over the problem.

She gave Blake a sidelong look. Blake seemed to be reserving judgement as she observed Ruby’s behaviour. Catching Weiss’ eye, she gave a solemn but determined nod. To Weiss, that was easy to translate.

_ We’ll watch over her. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all the comments and kudos! Especially Lord Darth Yoda, thank you for commenting on every chapter so far!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I suck? Yes. Do I have an excuse? Nope.
> 
> Please enjoy the next chapter of this fic and I hope you're all enjoying volume 6. This story is perhaps a bit weird now the actual show is out and I definitely should have posted it like a month ago.
> 
> Once again, unbeta'd.

Yang was barely asleep when Qrow’s hand shook her awake for her watch. She had been dozing in and out, watching the birds fly overhead; their darkened silhouettes flocking in large shimmering clouds, forming new hard-to-identify shapes in the moonlight. Echoes of sporadic chittering, screeching, and squalling communication brought up hazy memories of early mornings in the fields behind her house, when the dawn chorus would begin. She remembered the long grass tickling her face as rays of light burst over the horizon, warming her skin, momentarily disrupted by shade of a large figure moving to lie beside her.

Yang closed her eyes as she tried to recall the way Summer had felt, lying in the grass next to her. The melodic cadence of her voice, and the gentle sweet-smelling air that seemed to be waft around her. Fingers that had tangled into long blonde hair and ran soothing patterns across her scalp. Yang could remember the way her mother had looked to the sky with a bittersweet sadness as robins danced over their heads, as though she were looking past them.

The scene was a memory that Yang had held close to her heart over the years. Perhaps the calmest, most serene memory she had had before her world had collapsed in on itself, opening the agonising void of loss that would plague for her years to come; she had lost that childlike freedom of laying in the grass with her mother.

And now she couldn’t help but wonder if Summer had been doing the same thing in that warm quiet morning sun that Yang was doing now in the chilled shadowy twilight. The slight crease in her brow, and distant silver eyes. Looking for someone among the birds. Just out of sight.

‘Hey, firecracker. You’re up.’ Yang turned her head to Qrow’s face come into focus as he rested a hand on her shoulder. She slowly stood and dusted herself off, still glancing to the sky.

‘When you finish, you should try and actually sleep,’ were his parting words as he moved away. Yang realised that he had followed her gaze and for a moment she wondered if he knew what she had been doing. She watched his shoulders drop in a silent sigh; shaking his head and as he went to lay down.

In what was now a well-practised routine, Yang grabbed a blanket and went to find the most comfortable lookout for their last night on the road. They were camped not far from a signpost that indicated Windpath was only another half-day’s walk. She spotted a sturdy looking branch only a few metres away from their camp that promised a little more visibility of their surroundings.

Holding the corner of her blanket in her teeth, Yang quietly lifted herself up into the bough. She had been right, it was study enough as to not even creak let alone bend. The trees in this area were twisted, as though they had been torn and broken by the destructive beasts that prowled the wilderness, and had slowly but surely repaired themselves at abstract angles. The closely knit branches stuck out in haphazard directions and created a variety of choice for Yang to stretch out along, using some as footrests and others to prop up her back.

Instead, she nestled into a small ball against the trunk, and pulled the blanket around her, tugging it off the rough bark. Yang generally ran quite hot, so she was surprised that lately she had been feeling the cold of the nights a lot more. Maybe she was only used to the warm weather of Sanus.

She had only been sitting and contemplating the temperature for a few minutes, when she heard a rustling that drew her attention. She loosened the blanket around her, readying to leap into action, eyes darting back and forth rapidly as she surveyed the area. She couldn’t see any sign of movement between the trees that formed the camp’s borders. Nothing beyond them. She glanced up and quickly assessed the canopy surrounding their clearing. Nothing above.  _ Grimm aren’t so sneaky. Must just be some small animal. _

Yang relaxed for half a second before hearing the noise again, this time from directly below her. Off sheer impulse, she managed to fully activate Ember Celica, pulling her hands into firm fists, before hearing a quiet voice.

‘It’s just me.’ Small triangular ears atop jet black hair lifted into view, and suddenly Blake was settling onto the branch beside Yang. Yang looked at her disbelievingly, heartbeat unsure whether to continue its acceleration into fight or flight response. She deactivated her weapon and leant back against the trunk, watching Blake opt to lean against the twisted branch behind her, drawing the flaps of her coat together across her midriff.

‘What are you doing?’ Yang asked, astonished, ‘I nearly punched you.’ Blake’s golden eyes gleamed in the darkness, looking everywhere except at the source of the question, which Yang thought was particularly odd as it was clear that it was  _ Blake _ who had sought  _ her  _ out.

‘I, um, I guess I couldn’t sleep and decided to keep you company?’ It seemed to come out as a question, and Yang couldn’t tell if she was asking if she could stay or if Yang had bought the excuse. Too tired to push her on it, Yang decided to just let it lie.

‘Oh. Okay.’ She resumed her watch out into the night, studiously not looking at her new companion, and half-heartedly wondering if Blake had thought this plan through. With only her thin jacket, she had clearly come up on a whim and would likely soon be feeling the effects of the cool wind on her skin.

Resolving to not think about Blake’s presence, Yang blankly stared out at the trees, her eyes catching and following each bird that rustled through the leaves. Her heart rate slowed to match the easy pace of an owl swooping to the ground.

‘Are you looking for her?’ Blake’s voice startled her, a melodious murmur among the harsh, sparse tones of the night. She hadn’t realised how closely she was being watched.

Yang numbly turned to face her. ‘Not specifically,’ she replied, deciding she couldn’t be bothered to lie.

‘I’m sorry if I pushed too hard the other day.’ Blake seemed sincere, her face open and honest which was something of an uncommon expression on the face of a girl who had fought to keep her secrets buried.

Yang waved her concern away, not sure if she was willing to engage in this conversation yet. She was so tired and could feel her thoughts weighing heavily on her consciousness. A battle of decipher-the-subtext with Blake was something that required a lot more motivation than she currently possessed.

Blake was quiet for a while after that. Yang could almost feel the vibrations of her uncertainty coming in waves, though possibly that was just the beginnings of her shivering. Yang was honestly curious to see what would triumph – would Blake come out and say what she wanted before she grew too cold, or would she give up and return to bed rather than open up?

From the corner of her eye, she could see Blake firmly wrap her coat around her –  _ looks like it  _ **_is_ ** _ getting to her  _ – before making herself comfortable against the branch behind her and settling in for the long haul.  _ Oh. _

Yang frowned, hesitant as she watched owl return to the air with a whoosh, a field mouse gripped in its talons. She tilted her head towards Blake who had taken on a meditative pose, shivers now visible. Biting her lip, Yang waged a rigorous internal battle with her own resolve, and finally conceded to her more empathetic spirit. She untucked the blanket from her left arm and offered the opening to Blake.

Blake blinked in stunned silence, and Yang felt a little gratified that Blake had genuinely not anticipated the charity. Despite the satisfaction that Blake’s hesitation brought, she’d rather not let the wind rush into her new opening, and gestured a little more vigorously to prompt a decision.

Blake carefully scooted closer and slipped under the blanket, immediately wrapping as much of it around her as she could and huddling down into herself to recover some warmth. They were very deliberately not touching. Yang was glad. It hadn’t been an offer of friendship, only sympathy and mutual understanding, and Blake seemed to recognise it for what it was.

‘You can tell me about her if you want,’ Blake said softly.

Yang sucked her next breath in through her teeth, taking a long moment of contemplation. ‘Why do you want to talk about her?’ She eventually asked.

‘Because it seems to be weighing you down. I just want you to know that I’m here for you.’

There was an exaggerated pause in the aftermath of the statement and Yang was sure she could  _ hear _ Blake’s cringe as she realised what words had spilled out. Yang might have almost thought it funny; that Blake managed to say the one phrase that would open  _ that _ can of worms.  _ But she clearly doesn’t want to talk about that yet. And I’m not going to give her the easy way out. _

Ignoring the emanating panic beside her, Yang spoke emotionlessly. ‘She confuses me.’

Blake seemed to relax when she realised that she was off the hook for her slip up. ‘What about her?’

Yang pressed her fingers together under the blanket, trying to find the words. ‘She did all these terrible things. By my usual definition she would be a bad person.’ Yang spoke slowly, only really putting together her thoughts for the first time. ‘But… there’s more to it than that.’

Yang ran a hand through her hair, brow furrowed, still unable to look Blake in the eye. Blake stayed silent, waiting. It was easier to talk without Blake putting her foot in her mouth.

‘She saved me once. Did you know that? I don’t think I told you guys.’ Yang absentmindedly teased one of her nails through her teeth, unwilling to check Blake’s expression. ‘You remember Torchwick’s train?’ A quiet ‘mm’ encouraged her to continue. ‘I was knocked out in my fight against that ice cream umbrella chick. And when I woke up, I saw her. My mom, I mean. Neo was gone, and my mom was disappearing into a portal. I thought I had been imagining things for a long time.’

‘You don’t anymore?’ Blake finally spoke.

‘No. Uncle Qrow confirmed it during the Vytal Festival. Apparently, they kept in touch, sort of.’

She heard Blake let out a breath and slowly lean forward, processing the information. ‘So that means…?’

‘I don’t know. She left me as a baby and became this ruthless bandit. But she was watching over me enough to know I was in trouble, and came to save me. But then Qrow said that she wanted him to pass on the message that she wouldn’t be doing it again. I guess she meant it.’ Yang held up her right arm to demonstrate, flexing the fingers. ‘But still… she was watching that first time. She didn’t want me hurt. Does that mean she… cares?’

‘Can you think of another reason for her to watch over you?’ Blake asked, trying to play devil’s advocate.

‘Not really. I mean I guess she might have ulterior motives, but I don’t know. It  _ feels _ like she cared. It’s not even the first time.’ Yang gestured out to where the birds she had been watching had been. ‘I’ve seen that raven before. The one she transforms into? I saw it as a kid. I only remember it well enough because I saw it a lot. She could had hidden away, but sometimes she was in plain view.’

‘So she’s been watching you for a long time. Your whole life.’

‘Exactly!’ Yang exclaimed, balling up the blanket in her fist, ‘But if she cared so much about my life, then why  _ leave _ it? Why leave only to watch me from the sidelines anyway?’

‘Maybe she didn’t leave because of you? No one ever told you why she left,’ Blake asked hesitantly.

‘Yeah.’ The sudden build up of frustration left her body with an exhalation, leaving behind a sort of wobbly feeling. ‘She was this arrogant, apathetic person when I finally met her. Like she was indifferent to my presence. My  _ existence _ .’

The trees swayed heavily in the wind, the whistling and rustling bombarding their ears for a brief moment before losing momentum and the wind swirled out into the sky, pulling loose leaves with it. Yang pulled the blanket in tighter, feeling small; her heart cracked open and overflowing with contradictory emotions. She tucked her face into the knees drawn up to her chest, holding in the quivering tears that she wasn’t ready for Blake to see.  _ One breath in, one breath out.  _ She counted for a moment before she felt confident enough to speak. Blake had been completely still.

‘My problem is,’ she started, lifting her face, finally having found the words to explain the feeling that had been eating away at her for weeks now, ‘That after all this, I still have no idea who she is. Is she a callous, murderous bandit? Or is she someone that my extremely caring dad could fall in love with? Did she leave me behind because she didn’t give a damn, or does she secretly care a lot about my wellbeing and maybe feels  _ some _ sort of parental emotion towards me? After all this time, I’m even more confused than ever. Should I hate her? Should I let myself hope that she’s better than she seems?’

Blake reached out and put a hand on Yang’s knee, leaning in closer and finally breaking through the invisible barrier that had separated them.

‘I don’t know what she is. Or how she feels. But I promise you, we will find out.’ Blake squeezed her knee. ‘It may seem more confusing now than before, but honestly? You know more about her than you ever have. So I would consider that progress.’

Yang finally looked Blake in the eye and saw her sincerity, and the sliver of hope that highlighted her expression. Her sleep tousled hair shone in the moonlight, bathing the angles of her face in a soft glow and making her seem more bright and alive than Yang had felt in a long time.

‘You think we’ll find out?’ She asked uncertainly.

‘Well, she’s tied up in all of this somehow. Maybe Qrow will tell you. Maybe she will tell you herself. Maybe you’ll just have to come to your own conclusion from what you discover. But we’ll learn more and you can make the decision yourself.’

Yang felt the barest hints of a smile slide onto her face, and she ever so slightly leaned more into Blake’s contact, before setting her eyes back on their surroundings.

‘Thanks, Blake,’ she murmured quietly, ‘Thank you for talking to me about her.’

‘You’re welcome.’ Came the equally soft reply.

‘Maybe someday soon we can finally talk about you as well.’

‘I think that would be good. Someday soon.’

They both sat the rest of the watch in silence. And then sat through the next shift as well, blissfully relieved that the Grimm allowed them one night of rest.

-

Windpath turned out to be a bizarre semi-cliff-top town, overlooking the vast ocean off the shore of Anima. It sat in a vast clearing surrounded by the dense woodland that their troop had had to traverse on its non-ocean bound sides, keeping it, and its notoriously disreputable activity, sufficiently hidden from unwelcome eyes. 

Qrow had spent the journey describing that the outer woods of the urban area were home to vast criminal and smuggling operations and had been deemed too dangerous and costly for Mistral to monitor effectively, due to the high Grimm infestation and natural barriers. The kingdom had instead devoted their efforts to guarding their own borders against smuggling, though were almost entirely ineffective. They had left the wellbeing of Windpath up to local law enforcement who, while being as lax and unmotivated as Mistral’s border patrol, at least kept many of the residents safe from the surrounding illicit activity.

Now that they had arrived, Ruby couldn’t help but notice that this town shared a similar layout to Mistral, in that the city was built in tiers. There was the upper cliff top district, which was home to the general residents and wealthy crime beneficiaries, and the lower dock district, which wound around to the beaches at bottom of the cliff, where much of the ‘marketplace’ of import and export seemed to be hosted. Ruby envisioned that it was something of a spiral when seen from above, sprawling buildings trailing down a half-coil from peak to base, with a mix of the two worlds resting on the hill slope between the cliff and beach, where the main entrance was positioned.

Despite the layout being reminiscent of Mistral, the architecture of the town was entirely different, with quaint cottages dotted between straight, no-fuss stone buildings. The area had none of the colourful and stylistic flair of Mistral buildings, as though they thought the columns, arches and curved roof motifs were something of an unnecessary frivolity.

Still, Ruby couldn’t help but like it, in the way that she was fascinated by all new places and experiences she came across. She knew that seeing unexpected towns like this was exactly the sort of thing Yang became a huntress for, and sure enough, looking to her sister, she could see violet eyes drinking in their surroundings with keen interest.

The town entrance was nothing more than two grand doors whose joints seemed rusted into an open position, with no one paying any interest to who entered or left the tall, weathered stone walls.

‘Shouldn’t they be worried about criminal groups around here? I’m surprised they aren’t more thorough in vetting all visitors,’ Weiss commented, curiously looking around for any sign of the bureaucracy that the kingdoms, particularly Atlas, were known for.

Qrow merely shrugged. ‘You forget that half of the population of this town  _ are _ those criminals. They seemed to have found some kind of harmony between honest hardworking citizens and deceitful hardworking citizens.’ He pulled his flask out and took a sip as they entered the gates. ‘Besides, if some violent gang wants in, they will find a way in. Windpath doesn’t have any sort of military or guard duty. May as well leave the damn door open instead of rebuilding it every few months.’

Glancing around, Ruby could see that Qrow’s assessment was right. Just within the gates there was a kind of entrance area that seemed to serve no other purpose than for community gathering. There was a small unmaintained fountain in the square that had a pleasant tinkling sound but a murky green colour. It might once have had a granite sculpture standing proudly at the centre, but all that could be seen now was a loose hose emerging from a mound of shapeless stone that Ruby might have guessed once resembled feet. A couple of kids reached into the algae-clouded water to scoop up coins, while their parents chatted at a pretty, but shabby outdoor cafe. The sides of the square were haphazardly dotted with weathered stalls, but were too few in number to call the area a market place. People were buying newspapers at the newsagency, sitting dreamily on the benches, and catching the small tram-like vehicle than ran through the square on rails to the upper and lower parts of town.

But there was an unusual balance between the occupants of this village. Each individual was easily identifiable for which caste of the town they belonged to. Not by any sort of uniform or branding, but purely by their style and poise. Those that Ruby assumed were the average law-abiding residents wore brighter and clearly more considered clothing, as though they put thought into piecing their outfits together. They presented in the same way that any one of Vale’s citizens might have, except in the way they stood. Ruby could see that every one of these people stood to be unnoticed, slightly closed in on themselves, hoping to not draw attention.

The other half wore plain, neutral colours. Some of it was casual wear, and some of it was subtly tailored to combat. They appeared to care very little about their own appearance and were far more focused on their actions, as every activity seemed completed with full intention and purpose, even if it was as minor as smoking on the street corner. They didn’t hold themselves aggressively, but they had none of the desire to remain inconspicuous. They stood openly and loosely, not caring who saw them doing what. It was a posturing that Ruby associated with Yang, and it was bizarre to see it on these people that she could only assume were the underbelly of the town.

In spite of their obvious visual differences, the two groups seemed to interact in complete peace. Their activity almost indistinguishable but divided culturally. And there was a tension that hung heavy in the air.

‘Must be tough,’ Jaune muttered as they strode across the worn-smooth, cobbled square, ‘These people must be afraid.’

‘Why do you say that?’ Blake asked, ‘There’s a balance here.’

‘Because they’re neighbours with bandits and thugs,’ Jaune glumly looked around, ‘How can live quietly when anything they do could be met with violence?’

‘And if there is too much chaos, then more than likely Mistral will step in. And once Mistral is involved, their unpoliced smuggler’s paradise is over. It is in both groups’ interest to keep the peace.’

‘Exactly,’ Qrow nodded, shoving his hands deep in his pockets.

They stepped into the square and looked around as though there would be a big blaring sign for “Transport to Atlas” posted.  _ Of course it’s not that easy _ , Ruby sighed to herself.

‘Where to now, Uncle Qrow? Do you know your way around here?’ she asked.

‘I’ve been here a couple of times over the years, but that was a while ago and I’m not too familiar,’ Qrow ran a hand through his hair, ‘Windpath may not be a kingdom but it’s a big place.’

‘If we don’t know what we’re looking for, we should assume we’ll be here for a while. We should find accommodation,’ Weiss commented with a pragmatic mentality that Ruby envied.

‘Yeah. And a way of communicating so we can split up.’

‘Aren’t the only functioning comms towers at the moment in the kingdoms?’ Yang asked, pulling her scroll out to check for signal and holding up. After a moment she held it out for them all to see the blinking exclamation mark where her signal bar should be.

Qrow halted their group beside the fountain and surveyed the area around them with a keen eye, clearly searching for something. Ruby glanced down into the cloudy, green water; a collection of oddments and tokens strewn across the bottom slipped in and out of view as the disturbed algae drifted along the surface, like clouds concealing the stars. Her uncle stepped away from their group towards a bench on the footpath. 

‘Where are you going?’ She called out to him.

He threw his head back over his shoulder, ‘You kids really need a lesson in information gathering.’

Their gang shrugged at each other and began to follow. Ruby glanced back down at the water, and, after a moment’s hesitation, slipped one of her bullet cartridges from her belt and tossed it in with a small splash and a blooming green cloud. She darted away to catch up with the others.

There was a scraggly young man sitting on a bench, with ripped and dishevelled clothing, and a light scarf thrown casually around his neck, unravelling at the ends. Despite the roughness of his clothing, his easy, lax posture and finely trimmed, sage-coloured beard hinted there was something more of a showman’s flair to his appearance. Ruby guessed he could only be a few years older than their group, barring her uncle.  

‘Hey kid, is there some kind of local comms system here?’

The man slowly focused his eyes on Qrow, and it became apparent that his lazy demeanour was more than just a personality trait. He blinked slowly a few times and sniffed noisily, absent-mindedly running a sleeve under his nose. They watched as Qrow was sized up by dilated pupils before the man shrugged, either deciding he didn’t want to get on the bad side of man with a large sword on his back, or considered Qrow shady enough to be one of his own.

‘Hmm, yeah, that junkyard scrapper guy set up some mini-tower a while back.’

‘Wow. That was lucky,’ Yang said disbelievingly.

Ruby peered curiously at her uncle. ‘How did you know?’ 

‘I didn’t,’ Qrow shrugged, ‘But I figure anywhere doing shady business deals needs a reliable way to communicate that’s off the radar. You see? You’ve gotta assess your environment.’ Ruby raised an eyebrow, feeling distinctly like she was back at Signal. Though these pearls of wisdom were more often dealt by Qrow in the alleys between buildings, than in the actual classrooms.

The bench-sitter nodded, though it was more a slow lolling as gravity drew his head down. ‘Yeah, passwords and all that. Stops the big city from spying in on us when the big gangs make their big trades. But it’s been pretty handy since regular comms went down.’

‘How do we get in on it?’ Qrow asked. ‘See this junk scrapper guy?’

‘Eh,’ the layabout had begun losing interest in the conversation, ‘Could probably ask him.’ They turned to where he had vaguely indicated across the square. A middle-aged man with patchy facial hair, wearing a shabby casual button up and loose baseball cap, was leaning back against the wall of the post office. He bore large off-white pauldrons with a grey decal, too distant to make out, on both his shoulders and a similarly coloured badge hanging off his neck on a thin chain. The makings of a uniform, and the only indication that he was a member of local law enforcement, particularly as he was sharing a cigarette with a very shifty-looking woman from the bad side of town.

‘The cop?’ Jaune questioned, ‘I don’t think he knows what his job even is.’ They watched as the presumed-police officer handed some lien over to the woman who in turn passed over an envelope.

Their new dazed friend chuckled at them. ‘Where’re you guys even from?’ he mused to himself, not genuinely interested in the answer.

‘Thanks, pal.’ Qrow patted his shoulder and walked away. The group hurried to follow, and Ruby felt even more out of place in their little band of misfits. The cop had since lost his companion, and was eyeing them up, though Ruby couldn’t tell if it was curiosity or suspicion. Up close, she could see that the emblem on his shoulders was some kind of dark grey triangle, with three pale lines coiled in parallel to form a tight swirl. She assumed it was the local symbol of Windpath.

‘Hey, buddy. We’re looking to get set up with local comms. Can we buy in?’ Qrow asked nonchalantly.

The man looked them up and down and scratched his beard. ‘You looking to start trouble here?’

‘Nope, just looking to do some business and then passing through,’ Qrow responded disinterestedly. Ruby watched the officer give them a more careful once over, and hid her anxiously clenched fists behind her back. Their weapons were unlikely to draw suspicion, many people in the town appeared to be armed, but the relic would be harder to explain.

However, the cop just shrugged, ‘Yeah, four thousand lien for the lot of you.’

Qrow pulled out his wallet and passed over the money. Ruby glimpsed the flash of colours from his wallet, and bit her lip as she recalled her own money clip that had grown thinner throughout their quest.

The cop took each of their scrolls and, with a few quick keystrokes, connected them to the network, all the while answering their questions about the different districts of town and what they could expect.

‘Do you know anything about travelling to Atlas?’ Oscar asked as his scroll was returned.

‘No, I don’t keep tabs on what business people engage in.’ The cop sardonically tipped his hat and walked away.

‘But... that’s his whole job,’ Jaune murmured, unable to wrap his head around the dynamic of Windpath.

‘Things are different outside the kingdoms,’ Blake responded. ‘Living outside them often means just getting by, however you can. Even in a big town like this.’ 

‘Uphold the status quo, whatever it may be. One man can’t change an established society.’ Qrow agreed. Jaune rubbed the back of his head, his expression still bothered.

‘The people here don’t seem to be struggling or in any immediate trouble,’ Ruby offered to ease his mind.

‘Yes, they have it relatively easy here. Having the flow of a functioning society is a blessing,’ Ren added. Ruby’s mind flew back to a ripped banner adorned with a lotus and an abominable metallic screeching, sure that Jaune was probably suddenly thinking the same.

Qrow rubbed his chin and assessed the area. ‘Alright. We’re going to split up and find somewhere to stay and somewhere to eat. I’m going to head to the lower part of town and get a lay of the land. The rest of you will split into four each and see what you can find. Don’t draw too much attention to yourselves.’ He turned and promptly walked to the right exit of the square, giving a slight wave over his shoulder.

‘He uh… he’s just going to go and get a drink, isn’t he?’ Weiss asked as they all watched him walk away.

‘Yeah,’ Ruby and Yang sighed in unison.

The eight of them paused for a moment as people jostled around them, somehow managing to make the area feel busy even though it was far from full.

‘I don’t know that I feel all too confident here,’ Jaune spoke up.

‘We need to get to Atlas and don’t have too many options,’ Nora pointed out.

Ruby was inclined to agree with both of them. ‘Hopefully we won’t be here too long.’

Yang stretched out and rested her hands behind her head. ‘Yeah, I guess so, but we’ve been on the road for a bit. I wouldn’t mind at least a couple of days in an actual bed before we have to go again.’

‘Agreed. I’m in no hurry to get back to Atlas,’ Weiss said firmly, before growing thoughtful and adding, ‘That being said, if we find transport here, we need to consider other preparations.’

‘We’re getting ahead of ourselves. We don’t know for sure that we’ll even be able to travel out of here anyway,’ Oscar added glumly. ‘Knowing our luck, we’ll be walking to Atlas.’

Blake nodded with a wry smile. ‘Yes, let’s focus on getting there before we consider everything else.’

Nora’s stomach rumbled loudly. ‘Well, I’m hungry so I say we focus on building our strength back up first,’ she announced.

‘Right, yeah. Me too.’ Jaune agreed, meeting Ruby’s gaze.

‘I guess we’ll split up then.’

‘Yeah,’ Jaune replied, ‘Come on guys, we’ll head… um.’ He closed his eyes and thrust his finger in a random direction. ‘This way.’ He opened his eyes to see he was pointing directly down the middle pathway opposite the gate.

‘It’s as good a direction as any,’ Ren commented, ‘We’ll see you guys later.’

Ruby waved them off before turning back to her team, who seemed to be waiting for her.

‘It’s too early for lunch. Let’s go find somewhere to stay tonight.’

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments so far!  
> I'm going to try and post multiple chapters this week.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha! Look at that! Two chapters in one week!
> 
> Thank you for the comments on the last chapter!
> 
> This one is unbeta'd again.

They ended up taking the path from the left of the square, which led higher up into the town with a slight curving incline. As they gradually walked further up the hill, the stonework of the path grew neater; the cracks and missing pavers filled in and smoothed. The shrubbery in the garden beds and nature strips along the road were, perhaps not as tidy and pristine as the lawns of Schnee Manor, but at least no longer overrunning the footpath, and the vines that had snaked their way up the buildings and cottages were trimmed back to reveal the brick facade.

Despite this, Weiss had expected that the higher they went, the more sophisticated society would become and the divide between the two sectors of Windpath would grow more segregated, as it had in Mistral. She passed an eye over a smiling couple jogging with their dog, whose smiles wavered as they crossed a cafe front where a scarred man was barking orders at a couple of thugs, gesticulating angrily and emphatically, with a spiked mace strapped to his back.  _ It seems not. _

‘Do you think we should be worried about the relic in this town?’ She gave voice to her thoughts, albeit watching her volume and staying alert to any eavesdroppers. So far, no one seemed to take much of an interest in them.

‘Jaune, Ren and Nora are all really experienced by now, and Oscar was really starting to pick up on his training. I’m sure they can look after themselves,’ Ruby said positively. Weiss was unconvinced by her enthusiasm.

‘We don’t really have a choice,’ Blake said as the voice of pragmatism, ‘They have to be the ones to carry it.’

‘No one here knows we have it. They’ll probably just be mugged by your average ruffian,’ Yang added, unaware of the raised eyebrows directed at her as she kicked a pebble along the cobble path. She caught sight of their expressions. ‘I’m sure they can handle a mugging!’

Weiss pursed her lips. ‘If you all say so.’

‘Oooh, what about that place?’ Ruby pointed to a reddish brick building on the corner of two streets. They could see flashing neon in the windows, and a large chalkboard sign covered one face of the building; a bold white menu scratched across the surface. ‘They might have somewhere for us to stay.’

Weiss squinted to make out the sign. ‘It looks like it’s a games club,’ she said, examining the brightly blinking logo from a distance. She cast a hesitant gaze over the drawn blinds, and what was possibly cigarette smoke drifting through the chocked open door.

‘Oooh, games?’  _ Apparently her enthusiasm is un-dampenable. _

‘Like poker and pool and stuff. Sorry, Rubes.’ Yang patted Ruby’s shoulder in sympathy as the waves of palpable disappointment emanated from the girl.  _ Hm, not entirely un-dampenable. _

‘Let’s keep going,’ Blake said, eyeing the club warily. Weiss followed her line of sight and saw a crowd of loud, rough people emerge, guffawing and clapping each other on the back as they unsteadily made their way across the street. While Weiss didn’t doubt that team RWBY could outclass any of these people in combat, Qrow’s warning to avoid attention was floating across their minds.

They were about to turn away and continue on, when one drunken reveller in particular caught Weiss’ eye. Her mouth dropped open and she followed the group with her gaze.

‘Weiss?’ Ruby questioned, ‘What is it?’ Ruby craned her neck to see what had caught her teammate’s attention.

‘That man over there, with the red bandana and the stupid goatee. About to walk past us.’

‘What about him?’ Blake asked, already on her guard and prepared for anything. The gang paid them no attention and walked by on the other side of the street.

Weiss turned to Yang, who looked puzzled. ‘He’s one of the men who was guarding my cell. He’s one of your mother’s bandits.’

Yang face fell and she looked back to the group who were rounding the corner, her confident swagger faltering.

‘I think I recognised another of them too,’ Weiss added indignantly, as she glared after them, ‘It seems some of the Branwen tribe have migrated. I ought to go give them a piece of my mind now that I’m armed and not injured from a crash.’

‘Uh, maybe not,’ Ruby suggested, ‘Low profile.’ She raised and lowered her hands for emphasis, and Weiss rolled her eyes.

‘Yang?’ She heard Blake asked hesitantly. Weiss turned back to face them.

Yang had continued to watch the spot where the group had last been visible, and Weiss could see her mind working a mile a minute. She could almost see Yang’s lips moving while she was mouthing her thoughts out loud. Yang quickly turned and surveyed the area, eyes darting back and forth. Seeing no one else of note, she shrugged her shoulders.

‘Yeah. I guess the tribe spread out,’ was the only comment she provided, and she continued to walk in the direction they had been heading. Weiss narrowed her eyes in suspicion but said nothing.  _ What is that about? _ They all shared a look and began following Yang’s lead.

A few streets over, they found an inn, just high enough on the rise of the spiral to overlook the cliff. It seemed clean and cared for, but Weiss still halted a passer-by to ask about the inn’s quality.

‘Will our belongings be safe here?’ The woman seemed thoroughly off-put by Weiss’ aggressively detailed questions.

‘Yes, I would think so. I’m not really sure… I live here.’

‘What’s the rate of house burglary and breaking and entering in this part of town?’

‘Uhhh…’ Weiss felt a pair of hands grip her by the waist, as Yang forcibly lifted her and extracted from the conversation.

‘And what about- ugh, let go of me, Yang- ’ Weiss struggled as Yang placed her down on the other side of the road, ‘what about your recidivism rate?’

‘We’re so sorry,’ Yang called out to the woman who was hastening away.

Ruby put a hand on Weiss’ shoulder and steered her toward the entrance of the ‘Breeze Road’. ‘Come on Weiss, it’ll be fine. We can check the place out ourselves.’

Weiss crossed her arms in annoyance, ‘You say that now, but when we’re forced to fight Salem with cutlery because all our weapons were stolen by low-level thugs, you’ll regret it.’

They all chucked at her antics as they approached the building, and Weiss felt her bad temper soften and laughed along with them at the mental image. As soon as she entered, she felt her mind put at ease. The inside of the Breeze Road was all cosy dark wooden panelling and soft deep red rugs. There was a strong, delectable scent wafting through the room, and in the adjacent dining area, Weiss glimpsed a bowl of thick, rich soup being delivered to a table and she painfully recalled their hiking provisions. 

The gentle hum of quiet conversation surrounded them as they approached the bar counter towards a short, middle-aged faunus with small tusks protruding from his upper lip. He was sorting through some papers and looked up at their approach, his gaze steady and measured.

‘Hi, we’re looking for somewhere to stay for a while. Do you have any rooms?’ Ruby asked, with her cheeriest grin.

‘Hmmm, yes we have a couple,’ his voice was deep and rumbling, ‘How many beds and how long?’

‘Uh, well there’s nine of us in total, but we don’t know how long we’re staying. Depends on how quickly we can find transport to Atlas,’ Ruby said, ‘You wouldn’t happen to know anyone who can get us there do you?’

‘Not off the top of my head. Their borders are closed, aren’t they?’ He examined them over the rims of his glasses as he straightened his papers and slipped them away into a binder.

Ruby sighed, ‘Yeah we know. It was worth asking.’

The gentleman pulled out a laminated sheet from under the counter and laid it in front of them. ‘These are the varieties of room that we have. If you give me a minute, I can look up how many of each are available.’

He stepped aside to the nearby computer, and Weiss leaned over Ruby’s shoulder to examine the page. They had a surprisingly wide variety of rooms, and looking down the hallway behind the bar showed that the building was a lot bigger than they first realised, and seemed to stretch along the whole block.

‘Um, should we be worried about money?’ Yang asked, pointing at the price of the large four person rooms. ‘We don’t know how long we’re going to be here and we’ll need at least two of those, plus another, for every single night.’

‘I brought a lot with me…’ Weiss said hesitantly, ‘But a lot was lost in the crash, so I only have what was on me once Raven ordered her bandits to return my wallet.’

‘Well, I’m still pulling from my parents’ account,’ Blake spoke up, ‘We have money, but to cover all of us? I’m not sure. I think they’ll need that money to start rebuilding the house and the White Fang.’

Ruby was still perusing the rooms, trying to mentally calculate their expenses. ‘Uncle Qrow has a lot of money from all his missions, I’m sure he has an account. And at some point we can probably write home to dad for money. Maybe that will take too long...’

The hotel owner returned to the counter with the list of availabilities. They all crowded around to read as he passed them over. ‘You girls huntresses?’ He suddenly asked, and Weiss glanced up to see him critically evaluating their gear.

‘Um, sort of,’ Ruby replied vaguely.

‘Hmm,’ he scratched his head, ‘I couldn’t help but overhear the tail end of your conversation. There are plenty of ways to make money in Windpath. Though they aren’t all legal, and you’d want to avoid stepping on any toes.’

‘Do you have any suggestions that  _ are _ legal?’ Weiss asked, ‘We’d like to avoid stepping on the law’s toes as well.’

The faunus looked over to a young woman wearing an apron and chatting to a couple of drinkers at a nearby table. ‘Hey Iris, do you remember what happened with the farm down south? They were having trouble with Grimm, weren’t they? Did they sort that out?’

Iris bade farewell to the patrons and approached the bar, swinging her hand-towel over her shoulder. ‘The carrot farm? I know they tried to negotiate with some of those rowdy sailors for help, but I’m not sure what came of it.’ She turned thoughtful and rubbed her chin. ‘I think the notice might still be up on the board.

‘Ooooh, a village noticeboard! With a mysterious quest!’ Ruby’s face had lit up in excitement.

‘This is hardly mysterious Ruby, they just told us exactly what the problem is.’ Weiss pointed out. ‘Also, this is more of a town than a village.’

Ruby pouted, ‘Ugh, okay, Weiss.’

‘And no one local is willing to help?’ Blake redirected the conversation to their hosts, ‘From what we’ve heard this seems like the perfect breeding place for mercenaries.’

The older man chuckled, ‘Not so much mercenaries for hire, no. All the major gangs and groups have their own internal manpower. They would’ve offered to “escort the produce” for a fee, but it doesn’t directly benefit most smuggling rings to help local providers protect their market share, you know what I mean?’

Weiss knew exactly what he meant. She recalled a lot of dinner conversations with her father discussing the pros and cons of making business donations to certain political candidates or charity funds, depending on their stance on small business. He might have put an effort in for publicity’s sake, but in the end, he came out on top when other businesses failed.

Ruby fist-pumped in excitement. ‘Alright then! Team RWBY is on the case.’ Weiss elbowed her in the ribs and raised an eyebrow. Ruby’s returned questioning, betrayed expression made Weiss sigh out loud.

‘We’ll contact the rest of our party and check in with them before we book a room,’ Weiss said pleasantly, ‘Thank you for your assistance…um.’

‘Murphy.’

‘Well, thank you for your assistance, Murphy, and we’ll be with you in a moment.’ She smiled brightly in a manner she had learnt more from Schnee Dust Company employees than from any etiquette classes her parents had put her in. Murphy seemed bemused and nodded at them as they moved away.

‘I’ll call Qrow,’ Yang fished her scroll out.

‘Okay, I’ll call Jaune,’ Ruby replied, already having pressed the ‘call’ button.

A few quick ‘okays’ later and they had booked in for the next few nights. Qrow in one room on his own and the rest split roughly into their teams, with Oscar slowly being assimilated into team JNPR.

‘Ah, I’m so excited, team RWBY are all going to be roommates again.’ Ruby was practically buzzing.

‘Yeah, about that. You should probably stop referring to us as team RWBY. We’re trying to go unnoticed,’ Weiss pointed out.

‘Oh, is that why you elbowed me?’ Ruby pouted and then waved away Weiss’ concerns, seemingly unphased. ‘And people can already see we’re huntresses- ’ Weiss gave her a look, ‘in-training anyway. And they don’t know who team RWBY is. Not yet anyway.’

‘What about those bandits?’ Weiss questioned.

Ruby waved away her concerns. ‘They know you by face, not by your team name. Honestly, you’re the most identifiable one here. The name ‘RWBY’ is hardly going to draw more attention that a living, breathing Schnee walking among us.’

Weiss scowled, but conceded the point. ‘Fine, you’re right.’ She self-consciously toyed with her long, white Schnee hair. ‘Should I do something about it?’

Yang gave her a pat on the shoulder. ‘Nahhh, not everyone recognises a Schnee straight off the bat, and your family name is something that you’re proud of. We might have to rethink that when we get to Atlas though. Depends on the plan… that we don’t have.’

They all sighed in unison.

‘So, we should probably start our search, right?’ Blake asked, hand on hip.

‘Sure, we could…’ Yang drew out the last word, ‘Orrrr… we could look around and get some food? I’ve been on my feet all day, I could do with sitting down.’ Blake smiled and nodded.

‘There was some kind of café a couple of streets back. Near those clothing stores?’ Weiss recalled.

‘Alright then. Team RWBY gets food!’

‘Are you going to do that every time?’

‘Absolutely.’

-

Qrow circled around the bustling docks, a heavy fishy scent coating the air and all who walked through it. Rough and gruff sailors passed through, sharing the load on large wooden crates that were marked with hastily imprinted logos of local fishing vessels. Qrow’s keen eyes picked up the way they ever so slightly tipped their caps to an officer, sitting nearby playing cards with some local kids, who tipped his in return.  _ Well, I doubt that’s fish. _

He aimed to be unassuming and unnoticed, speaking to no one and never venturing too far into the centre of the docks. He held fast to the handle of Harbinger as people jostled into him, feeling the brief clutching of hands along his pockets as they searched for an easy target. He would pull and shift ever so slightly to avoid the multitude of sticky fingers that frisked him, keeping his valuables just out of reach, but moving subtly enough to for it be considered bad luck.

_ Heh. _ Qrow smirked to himself, maybe it was just plain bad luck. Maybe a little bit of misfortune would suit him well right about now.

He felt the ever-present pulsing behind his ribs. The slightest sensation, like a clock made of sinewy muscle, beating out its irregular time with his blood. There his semblance sat, like a pinned grenade ready to detonate and burst into slippery fingers or deepening cracks, a lost footing here and a sun-glare blind spot there.

There was no need to wait for the semblance to reveal itself at random; Qrow tugged at the sensation, activating his aura, and his eyes darted around, surveying the scene for those the omen might befall.

A hat blew away in the wind.

A woman knocked her head against a low-hanging sign.

A child slipped and grazed his knee.

Qrow’s eyes narrowed. All poor choices. The bad luck came in twofold – bad for those it manifested in, and bad for him as it enveloped unassuming and unintended victims, increasing the well of guilt inside him.

He waited, slowly pacing around the outside edge of the crowd, scanning.

A man dropped his box of produce.

And a sailor carrying the back half of a crate tripped as vegetables scattered beneath his feet, dropping the box on its corner and cracking the sides open.

_ There. _ Qrow quickly but steadily moved himself closer to see the contents of the box. He caught a glimpse through a gap in the flow of people… and…

_ Dammit. _ Qrow halted his movement. Bootlegged scrolls of varying sizes among the packing foam. Not particularly flashy ones either. And definitely no trademark dust.

One of the sailors passed him by, carrying a charter. Qrow murmured to her, his voice quiet in the din of the crowd, ‘You been to Atlas recently?’ 

The sailor stopped in surprise and looked for the source of the voice. She located Qrow, who used his best intimidating-but-not-aggressive stance, arms folded across his chest.

‘Huh?  Of course not.’ She looked at him like he was stupid. ‘The waters beyond the main docks of Mantle are rocky and dangerous. Iceberg territory. We’re not dumb enough to sail there.’

‘Hm, why would you assume I wasn’t asking about the main ports?’ Qrow watched her out of the corner of his eye, still casually surveying the activity around them.

The woman snorted at him and his attempt to catch her off-guard. ‘Main ports are all closely watched, specifically to avoid anyone docking there.’

‘And I guess people like you don’t tend to have importing licences do you?’

She watched him suspiciously. ‘I just said we don’t go to Atlas, so I don’t why you’re asking questions. You some kind of investigator?’ She looked him up and down. ‘You don’t look like one, but maybe they go about hiring hunstmen these days.’

Qrow chuckled at that. ‘Not yet they don’t. At least, not me. I thought you could be of some help to me.’ He waved a hand as he began to walk away. ‘I guess not.’

The docks were a bust. He hadn’t considered the natural barriers around Solitas, but now that she had mentioned it, he did recall that the freezing winds, reefs, and rips were deadly to ships. It had been a great help in deterring the last great war from reaching Mantle’s borders. There were only a couple of safe landing spots, and they would, of course, be monitored in Ironwood’s lockdown.

Qrow ruffled his hair and sighed.  _ Enough work for today. I need a drink. _

-

‘Uh, do you guys know where you’re going?’

‘Of course we do!’ Nora replied emphatically, patting Oscar on the back with some force. ‘We’re searching the city!’

‘Um, yep,’ Jaune glanced back at them as he examined a nearby map of the town on an information hologram board. They were standing on the intersection of two streets, having found themselves travelling southwards through the town, down the spiral. The buildings around them were worn and tired; the render on the facades was cracking, and the paint was patched up with slightly off-tone colours. The tram rumbled passed them along one of the streets, squealing against its worn, rusted tracks and ringing its bell repeatedly as it crossed the intersection. Nora winced at the cacophony.

Ren peered over his shoulder and pointed. ‘We seem to be here. That’s ‘The Harbour Wreck’ restaurant on that corner there. It’s right across the road behind us.’

‘It’s more of a chain fast food joint than a restaurant. And I’m pretty sure that one,’ Jaune pointed to the spot on the map Ren had been indicating, ‘is the one we passed earlier. Which means…’

Oscar examined the signs around them, ‘Well, we seem to be on High street, but the intersecting street sign has been vandalised, so I’m not sure which part of High Street.’

‘Why don’t we just ask someone?’ Nora chimed in. ‘I’ll go do it.’ She dashed off, hearing the others call after her as she approached a nearby civilian flicking through his scroll at the outdoor seating of ‘The Harbour Wreck’.

‘Excuse me? We’re lost. Do you know what the name of this street is?’

The man looked up and then glanced to the street sign behind her. ‘Hmm, doesn’t seem to have a name. Sign’s all scratched up. Sorry ‘bout that.’ He returned to the images on his phone.

Jaune had caught up behind her. ‘Sorry to bother you. Would you know how to get to the scrapyard junker who set up the comms here?’

Nora was surprised, she hadn’t realised that they were specifically aiming for somewhere in particular. The man glanced up at them again, and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.

‘Yeah, the scrapyard is all the way down the bottom of this street, about ten blocks, pretty much the border of Windpath to the south. I don’t know, ask someone when you get closer.’

‘Thanks, man.’ Jaune replied, gesturing the other two over. Nora gave the man a quick salute before turning away. ‘Alright, so we’re heading down this way.’

‘Ah, so the opposite direction to the inn that team RWBY found. Down the hill,’ Ren said with a sigh as they began their trek.

‘It’s going to be a long walk back up,’ Oscar added with resignation. All their feet were sore from the journey from Mistral and their brief lunch break hadn’t really given them enough time to recover.

‘We can catch the tram to the top,’ Nora pointed out as she glanced at the build up of dirt in the grooves along the road.

‘Come on guys,’ Jaune tried to perk them up with his enthusiasm, ‘That trip was nothing compared to the one we made across country just getting to Mistral. We’ve been much more exhausted than this.’

‘I think the exhaustion is just building at this point,’ Oscar replied, ‘We haven’t had a true break since I met you guys. Since Ozpin got in my head.’ He was clutching the straps of his bag, looking at his feet. ‘It’s just been full steam ahead since I got involved in all of this.’

Jaune rested his hand on Oscar’s shoulder. ‘I know. This must be harder for you than the rest of us. We all chose this. You were kind of thrown into it, with an extra voice in your head to boot.’

‘Yeah, that was hard, but now that he’s gone… It almost feels weirder. Like there’s a silence instead.’

Ren nodded his head sagely. ‘You’d grown adapted to the space that the voice occupied. You were likely not even aware of that space before, as none of us are aware of ours. But now that you are attuned to it, it must be hard to ignore again.’

Oscar’s shoulder’s deflated. ‘Exactly. I just wish I knew what he wanted me to do right now.’

Nora felt her spirit sink in sympathy. ‘Well… maybe you don’t need to know what Ozpin would want you to do. Aren’t you supposed to be compatible? On a spiritual level?’ She wiggled her fingers in his face for emphasis of what she considered a ‘spiritual bond’ to be.

Oscar gave a small grin and chuckle at her behaviour, and Nora felt a little lighter for pulling him slightly out of his funk.

‘He did say that, yes. I suppose in theory I should have similar intentions and ideals as him. But…’

‘You don’t have the knowledge and information,’ Jaune finished, ‘Not yet anyway.’

Oscar nodded. ‘He did imply that we would begin to merge in that respect, but we were still so divided when he wore himself out controlling my body.’ Oscar scratched his head and kicked his boot along the path. ‘I wish he hadn’t done that.’

‘It bothers you? When he takes control like that?’ Ren queried.

‘He usually asks. That time he was more concerned with Hazel and didn’t think I could handle it.’ Oscar let out a long breath. ‘I probably couldn’t.’

‘Still,’ Jaune said firmly, ‘It should have been your choice. You should be allowed to choose.’ Nora saw he had that faraway look in his eyes that had developed since the fall of Beacon. ‘Maybe someday you’ll be fully merged, but at the moment you still have your own thoughts and opinions.’

Nora could see that Oscar was still conflicted.  _ We should change the subject. _ She made eye contact with Ren, who seemed to intrinsically know what she was thinking. He tilted his head slightly in support, to which she was grateful for. 

‘So why the junker?’ she spoke up, ‘I thought we were just checking the city out?’

‘Oh, right.’ Jaune snapped out of his daze. ‘Well, I was thinking, the town seems pretty normal, so we aren’t going to discover too much without some kind of direction. The junker seemed to have a good handle on the local area, maybe he could help tell us who’s who.’

‘But he just works in the scrapyard,’ Nora couldn’t see what Jaune was getting at.

‘But maybe if he’s interconnected enough to set up a town wide comms system, he might have the inside scoop on the people here.’

‘Especially if he sorts through their junk,’ Oscar thought out loud.

‘Oh yeah, I didn’t even think of that!’ Jaune put his hand on Oscar’s shoulder, ‘That’s a great idea.’

Oscar smiled at the gesture, and Nora could sense a sort of brotherly bond developing between the two. Perhaps because Jaune knew what it was like to be the inexperienced outsider he felt more protective of Oscar.  _ And now he gets to be Oscar’s Pyrrha. _

Nora grinned at the two and linked arms with Ren.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little longer because I couldn't pick a good place to end.  
> Un-beta'd again, hopefully no mistakes.

Qrow was sitting at the Breeze Road’s bar when team RWBY returned from their lunch mission. They had perhaps drawn out their lunch break more than they should have, and the sky had grown dark. Ruby was confident that they had at least gained a lay of the town and knew where they could find the noticeboard to check on that mission posting.

She hadn’t planned on delaying so long, and based on the way Qrow’s head was lazily supported by one of his hands and his shoulders slumped forward, Ruby guessed that he had already done his heavy drinking and was now on the come down. The waitress Iris was attempting to make flirtatious small talk with him while leaning over the counter, but he seemed to be struggling to focus his attention.

Ruby gave Yang a look, which was responded with an eye roll. Far too many years of experience with their drunk uncle meant they were fully prepared for his usual swaying, frequent distraction, and lack of communication between his mouth and brain.

He turned on his stool as they approached, seeming to recognise them quite quickly.  _ Oh good, we’re past blind drunk. Looks like he’s actually sobering up. _

‘Hey girls, this is Iris.’ Qrow gestured towards the woman, who gave an awkward smile back.

‘We met her earlier,’ Ruby replied, ‘Nice to see you again.’

‘Yes, well, hopefully you all enjoy your stay,’ Iris replied politely, albeit awkwardly, and made her exit.

Yang elbowed Qrow, ‘Are you struggling to keep the ladies around in your old age?’ She asked with a smirk.

Qrow scowled in response and ruffled his hair. ‘I am  _ not _ old. It was the rabble of toddlers arriving that put her off. By which I mean you guys.’ Yang only snorted at him.

Ruby pulled another stool forward and propped herself in front of her uncle. ‘Did you find anything?’

Qrow sighed heavily and rested his head against his palm again. ‘No. And I was unfortunately reminded that sailing outside the Mantle ports is a death wish.’

‘Hm, now you mention it, I think I remember that too.’ Weiss’ voice came from behind Ruby. She turned to see Weiss thoughtfully rubbing her chin. ‘My father bought out the majority of smaller ports Mantle’s territory. Or at least the ones the kingdom hadn’t already laid claim to. But I recall him complaining that he had to register them with the council because Ironwood considered it a border security issue.’

‘Any chance your father didn’t register one of them?’ Blake asked dryly, distaste evident in her tone at Jacques Schnee’s legally ambiguous capitalist ambitions. ‘If there is at least one port in Mantle that isn’t under the Atlesian council’s eye, we might be able to sail in.’

‘I think it’s unlikely,’ Weiss replied, ‘I know Ironwood investigated thoroughly because he suspected, like you, that Father would try and keep some off the books.’

‘Why not register them?’ Ruby asked, already aware it was probably a dumb question, but worth asking.

‘Hiding profit,’ Qrow replied in a tired, gravelly voice, ‘Tax avoidance. Maybe keeping some options open for exactly instances like this so he can ship dust out without approval.’

Weiss seemed embarrassed. ‘Yes, all of the above were likely considerations. This all happened while I was quite young and Winter was still expected to be heiress, so I wasn’t privy to the workings of the company.’

‘So you’re not sure if Ironwood missed one that we could try and look for?’ Yang spoke up.

‘Well, I wouldn’t bother. I may not have been exposed to the business side of things, but I was definitely exposed to Father’s foul temper at dinner. And I distinctly recall him ranting about how Ironwood had identified all the new assets. He was… less than polite in his descriptions of Ironwood sticking his nose into the Schnee Company’s business.’

The group collectively sighed in disappointment at another dead end.

‘It’s official then, we can’t get there by boat without a visa,’ Ruby concluded, half hoping someone would leap in and correct her, but no one did. She dropped her head into her palm, mirroring her uncle’s posture and began toying with the chipped wood grain of the counter.

‘Hey, the others are here.’ Yang nodded towards the door.

Ruby turned to face Jaune and his team as they approached. They looked decidedly less dejected than Ruby felt.

‘Oooh this place is swanky,’ Nora said, rotating on her heels to take in her surroundings.

Jaune nodded, ‘Yeah, compared to the road it is. Seems comfortable, you know?’ Ruby had to agree. Sleeping in the dirt wasn’t glamourous, and the inn’s soft carpeting and crackling flames in the fireplace filled the building with a rustic warmth that surpassed their former accommodation.

‘Did you guys find anything?’ Weiss asked pointedly, unimpressed with their dilly-dallying as they examined the building’s interior.

‘Maybe.’ Oscar replied. They all perked up, including Qrow despite the obvious headache he had coming on.

‘Maybe?’ Ruby clarified excitedly.

‘We went to that junk scrapper. The one who set up the comms here?’ Jaune explained.

Qrow sat up straight, ‘Good thinking kid. What did he say?’

‘Pft a whole lot of garbage. Literally!’ Nora scoffed. ‘He was just crazy.’

‘He did seem… eccentric,’ Ren conceded.

‘We think maybe he’s past his prime,’ Jaune added delicately. ‘But that’s not the relevant part. Oscar saw something.’

The group turned their attention to Oscar who seemed to shrink in the spotlight. ‘Well yeah, as we were leaving, after the scrapyard guy couldn’t give us a straight answer, I noticed in one of the sorting bins were some seriously high-tech weapons. They were all damaged or in pieces. But it was definitely Atlas calibre.’

Jaune addressed the group, ‘So we were trying to work out what reasons military-grade Atlas technology could be doing here.’

‘How many weapons are we talking?’ Blake asked cautiously.

‘More than a one-off disposal,’ Ren clarified, seeing what Blake was getting at, ‘There were at least two bins full of parts and pieces. Presumably collected over the years, but…’

‘Definitely enough to be considered more than just chance,’ Nora finished, plonking herself down on one of the stools.

‘I know my sister was stationed in Mistral for a while, before the lockdown,’ Weiss thought out loud, ‘But she always works in small tactical teams. I would think it would be unlikely that any of their weapons would go missing like that.’

Qrow cleared his throat. ‘Atlas has always had a small military presence in all of the other kingdoms, right up until the events at Beacon last year. The army that James brought to Vale was a one-of-a-kind spectacle.’

‘Sooo,’ Ruby put the pieces together, ‘If there hasn’t been any significant Atlas presence nearby here in the last few years, then they can’t be just discarded or lost military weapons.’

‘Exactly,’ Jaune replied, ‘So we’re thinking maybe there’s another way Atlas tech is getting into this town of smugglers.’

‘Wow, nice going guys,’ Yang high fived Nora.

‘Maybe we have some leads here after all,’ Blake concluded with a smile. Jaune grinned back at her, rightfully pleased with the findings of his team.

The mood among them had lifted considerably. Ruby was feeling giddy at the thought of their first real clue after weeks of dead ends.

‘Tomorrow we can start asking around if people know where the scrapped weapons came from,’ Oscar said triumphantly.

‘Wait, hold on,’ Weiss interrupted, ‘I don’t think we can just ask who around here smuggling weapons. I know Windpath isn’t as closely monitored as other places, but a cache of Atlesian military technology would draw at least some attention. They aren’t going to just tell us about the crimes they’re committing.’

‘She’s right,’ Qrow added, ‘Not only would Mistral take notice of a weapons stockpile, but other “business groups”,’ he emphasised the air quotes, ‘would try and either steal their shipment or their supplier. It’s risky to be open about something like that when you’re in the smuggling trade.’

Ruby couldn’t help but still feel hopeful and her grin wouldn’t wane any time soon. ‘Well, that’s okay! We just need to keep looking. At least now we know there is something to find.’

‘Yeah,’ Qrow agreed and stood up, ‘I’m going to bed though. No one else have anything to report in?’

‘Oh! Just one thing,’ Ruby spoke up, ‘Team RWBY is going to go investigate a rumour about a nearby Grimm infestation.’

Qrow seemed surprised by this, and he paused in anticipation of her explanation.

‘We heard that a nearby farm might have been having Grimm trouble,’ Ruby elaborated, ‘If we’re here, we can help. And it wouldn’t hurt if there was some kind of payment considering that we have been on the road for a while without any income. Two birds, one stone.’

Qrow nodded. ‘Okay kiddo, let me know what you find out tomorrow. More funds couldn’t hurt.’

Ruby returned his nod and watched him head upstairs. She saw Yang check the time on her scroll. ‘It’s kinda early for him to be going to bed. He must have started drinking hours ago.’

‘It is dark outside,’ Jaune shrugged, ‘Anyway, I’m beat. We spent the whole day walking across Windpath.’

‘What? But what about dinner?’ Nora practically whined, ‘Surely a little exercise like that didn’t destroy your appetite?’

‘Perhaps we all have a rest and return for dinner in an hour?’ Ren suggested.

Ruby looked at her team, well aware that they had all just had a late and long lunch. They all gave varying unenthusiastic shrugs, leaving the decision up to Ruby. She sighed, ‘I think team RWBY is done for the day. We’ll get an early start tomorrow for the mission.’

They said their goodnights and headed upstairs. Ruby hadn’t wanted to say it, but this was the part she was most excited for. ‘A roommate reunion!’ She called as she practically bounced along the hallway. She could hear Weis muttering disapprovingly while Yang and Blake laughed at her antics.

‘Come on Ruby, I’ve been your roommate practically my whole life,’ Yang teased.

Ruby found their door and swiped in, sticking her tongue out at Yang as she went. ‘I’m not excited to share a room with my dumb older sister, I’m excited to share a room with  _ team RWBY _ .’ She pointed suddenly at Blake, who seemed startled by the finger suddenly inches from her nose. ‘Blake and I haven’t shared a room in a whole year!’

Ruby looked expectantly at Blake for her equally enthusiastic response.

‘Um, woo hoo?’

‘Tsk, why would you expect Blake to be excited about the prospect of sleeping  _ less  _ given how distracting and noisy you are when you’re dreaming. I hardly ever get any sleep at all in the same room as you,’ Weiss said disdainfully. Ruby pouted and harrumphed.

‘Well none of us are going in until someone expresses some genuine excitement and team comradery.’ She stood in front of the doorway with her arms crossed. The others looked at each other as though debating whether they could just lift her out of the way. She scowled at them, putting all her effort into a scathing death stare.

Yang burst out laughing at her expression, and Blake and Weiss soon dissolved into giggles afterwards.

‘Rubes, what is that face?’ Yang asked through tears.

‘This!’ Ruby pointed to her face, deepening her scowl. ‘Is my death stare!’ Though she struggled to maintain it as the others laughed harder, and eventually began to chuckle as well.

‘Ah, I missed you Ruby,’ Blake said as her laughter died down.

Weiss nodded, ‘You guys are so ridiculous sometimes.’ Ruby could tell it was a compliment and she was pleased to see the giant smile on Weiss’ face, remembering the sincere hug she had received when they were reunited in Mistral.

Yang didn’t have to say anything, Ruby already knew how much the team being together meant to her, and she just seemed to radiant satisfaction at seeing them all having fun together again.

‘Well okay then.’ Ruby put her hand on the door handle. ‘Now we’ve gotta dibs the beds. Are you ready?’ She grinned when her team got into stupid racing poses.

‘Set!’ She watched them closely even though none of them were preparing to actually dash in.

‘GO!’ Ruby pressed down on the door handle and was met with unexpected resistance and small beep. ‘Wha?’

‘You’ve got to swipe in again,’ Weiss pointed at the card reader beside the handle with its small red light, ‘It, um, automatically re-locks after a period.’

‘Oh.’

Yang snorted and they all broke down into giggles again, as Ruby re-swiped her card.

‘Okay, okay, for real this time. GO!’

-

They ventured down the town’s spiral the next day to find the noticeboard they had glimpsed from afar yesterday. In the early morning, Windpath’s demographic seemed to have shifted greatly. Looking at the citizens this morning would make one question whether the rumours of Windpath’s underworld were merely the exaggeration of an over-enthusiastic mind.

The orange light of the rising sun glinted across the cobblestones, gently glittering underfoot as civilians passed over them. The soft sound of the early morning chirping of birds was overlaid with the quiet humdrum of sleepy people doing their daily chores. As they crossed cafes, wafts of quiet, drowsy conversation and the clattering of cutlery against plates filled the air with a pleasant peacefulness. In the distance, a tram bell could be heard and the heaving and groaning of old mechanical parts came lethargically up the hill, people moving off the street to allow it through. Windpath at dawn felt safe.

‘It’s different this morning,’ Blake murmured to the group. She couldn’t see the same signs of banditry or delinquency among the people they crossed. Then again, she had also been surprised to see just how many people were awake and active at the day’s first light.

‘This must be the best time to be out and about for the locals,’ Ruby replied, equally quietly. None of them were willing to break the peace that hung in the air. ‘They don’t have to try and hide themselves so much.’

Blake looked over to the collection of people where Ruby gestured. It was true that everyone seemed to stand a little taller, as though they recognised they were the masters of this time of day.

‘Makes sense,’ Yang said thoughtfully, ‘If I was a criminal, I’d do all my thieving and troublemaking at night, past midnight. Which means they’ve probably stopped all their activity for the morning and are asleep.’

Wind blustered through the narrow street, blowing napkins and stray litter in swirls. Blake shivered at the sudden stream of cool air, and she noticed that Ruby and Weiss were knocked back slightly, having to pause to regain their balance. She snorted when she realised Yang had just continued on as though nothing had happened.

Windpath was nothing at all like Kuo Kuana’s tropical paradise. It was narrow and tall, solid and stone, where Kuo Kuana was open and light. It wasn’t all too similar to any of the places she had been before. She had seen a lot of Anima during her time in the White Fang, but they had never bothered to venture here. Perhaps because violence would only be met with further violence in a place like this. Or perhaps because there already seemed to be a large faunus population compared to other regions.

Blake would have estimated that nearly a third of the people in Windpath were faunus, and no one had yet given her a hard time about her ears, still openly on display. She was pleased to see so many of them outside of Menagerie, but a little disappointed that it was in a town with a reputation like this.  _ Still, there are a lot of faunus out at this time in the morning, completely unrelated to the criminal side. _

Despite the sleepy, calm of the town, Blake couldn’t help but feel anxiety thrumming under her skin. The peace, the quiet. These were all familiar sensations from a long time ago. The stillness surrounding a warehouse in the early hours, the silence from a row of grain silos, the tranquillity of a brilliant crimson forest near train tracks.

Blake kept pace with the town, maintained the illusion of suspension. But she was waiting for the rush of adrenaline and the wind whistling in her ear, drowning out the voice of her conscience, the moment when a stone is dropped into the surface of a still pool, and she had to ride the ripples as best she could.

She glanced at her team, enjoying the stroll and atmosphere.  _ I’m not alone right now. Whatever happens, we can handle it. _ Her eyes darted around the street, worried she had jinxed herself.

But nothing came. No hysteria or yelling. No explosions or gunshots. The morning carried its momentum through, and the lives around them continued without interruption.

Blake forced herself to relax her shoulders, rubbing the tension out of her neck. She took a long deep breath through her nose, bringing the scent of coffee and breakfasts, and a woody, foresty smell carried from outside the town on the breeze.

‘There’s the noticeboard,’ Yang said, pointing ahead into a small square that they had passed yesterday. The square stood as an intersection between five streets. Blake let out her breath as a sigh.

The noticeboard stood flickering, used so little that no one bothered to maintain it and keep the projection stable. Ruby jogged up to it and began reading. When they had caught up with her, Blake could see that there were very few notices compared to similar boards in the kingdoms.

‘Seems like they take care of their own business here,’ Weiss commented, surveying the postings.

‘You see the one we’re looking for, Ruby?’ Yang asked.

‘Hmmm,’ Ruby quickly scanned them, ‘Oh yes!’ She jabbed her finger at the board, causing it to flicker aggressively. She quickly retracted it.

Blake leaned over her shoulder to read it out loud. ‘Search and Destroy - South Pass Farm requests help with Grimm infestation. Payment to be negotiated upon response. Car Otenoi.’ She turned to the others. ‘It was posted two weeks ago.’

‘Do you think she’s okay?’ Yang asked, concerned. ‘It doesn’t say anything about how big the infestation is, or how much support she has. Two weeks is a long time to go on your own with Grimm about.’ Blake shrugged helplessly, unsure how to reassure her.

‘Well all we can do is go ask,’ Weiss said as the perpetual voice of reason.

Ruby selected the mission to accept before opening a map on her scroll. ‘Sooo, South Pass Farm seems to be just off a main road out of the town’s southern exit. I wonder if we can hitch a ride?’

Yang sighed. ‘I wish I had my bike still,’ she grumbled.

‘Yeah, me too,’ Weiss replied, ‘These two could just walk and catch up.’ Blake rolled her eyes in Weiss’ general direction.

‘Ah, don’t be like that guys. Come on, maybe there’s a bus?’ Ruby turned them around to head to the southern exit.

As they walked away, Blake glanced around them at the growing number of people as the morning was now in full swing.

-

To Weiss’ disbelief, there  _ had _ been a bus that took them most of the way to the farm. A community-run bus made daily trips between all the villages along south road, but hadn’t received authorisation from Mistral to stop at any of the kingdom gates. The driver had willing told them all about how the reputation of Windpath made Mistral wary of any vehicles from the town, even though they barely spared a second glance to the illegally imported goods coming in regular shipping trucks.

It appeared that honesty led to punishment by association, but deceit was left unchallenged. The bureaucratic inconsistencies and inefficiencies made Weiss’ head hurt. She may not have ever taken on any business responsibility with the Schnee Dust Company, but her father had ensured his children had basic education in management skills for when they inevitably joined the company. The running of Mistral appeared to be based on sheer incompetency. Or corruption.

Their driver had been willing to make an unregistered stop before the first village near South Pass Farm and had thanked them for their conversation. They stepped off the vehicle in front of small pathway between some hedges, marked as the driveway for the farm, and began their walk.

‘Weapons out, guys,’ Ruby said, keeping a steady watch on their surroundings. Weiss marvelled at how quickly Ruby switched from silly and overly enthusiastic to calm and authoritative. She drew Myrtenaster and readied herself.

They walked quickly and cautiously through the line of trees on either side of the path, hearing only the trillings and shuffling of wildlife, and the crunching of leaves under their feet. 

They made it to the small farmhouse without incident, though Weiss began to second Yang’s earlier fears. The farm consisted of one small building and a barn alongside fields of tilled soil. There couldn’t have been more than a couple of people living and working there at any one time, and any serious grimm attack would be difficult to withstand for several weeks.

As they drew closer to the building, Weiss noticed that it was undamaged and still standing solidly. The windows were clean and an uncracked, and the roof tiles were all firmly attached. The facade may have appeared weathered, with leaves blocking up the gutters and soil traipsed across the porch, but it didn’t seem that the house had suffered a visit from the grimm. Her tension lessened, even if her grip on her blade held strong.

‘Hello?’ Ruby called out as they approached the door. She received no response.

‘Is that her out there?’ Yang asked. Weiss turned and saw Yang shading her eyes from the sun and squinting out into the field. There was a small figure crouched over in the soil.

They made their way out down the narrow path between lines of plants to where the woman was closely examining the leaves on some vegetables that seemed in poorer health. It was then that Weiss noticed the ground nearby was torn up and trampled.

‘Are you Car Otenoi?’ Ruby asked as they drew closer. The woman let out a small shriek and fell backwards onto the ground, crushing some plants in the row behind her, before hurriedly scrambling to her feet, all while Ruby was spouting out apologies.

She was a short, stocky ageing woman with sun-weathered dark skin and a broad-brimmed hat to cover her wiry, greying hair. She wore a long yellow linen dress, which fell short just above her ragged boots. Once standing, she quickly got her bearings, pulling a reddish cardigan more firmly around herself as she hesitantly watched them hastily put their weapons away.

‘I’m so sorry about your plants,’ Ruby said yet again, gesturing to where the woman had crushed her own produce.

Looking down, the woman saw what Ruby meant. ‘Oh damn,’ she cursed quietly to herself, but seemed to quickly accept the loss. Weiss could only assume she was growing used to it if the state of the rest of her field was anything to go by.

‘Are you Car Otenoi?’ Weiss repeated, unwilling to mourn the plants any longer than necessary.

The woman looked back up at them and nodded her head. ‘Yes that’s me.’

Ruby stuck her hand out. ‘We’re team RWBY, it’s a pleasure to meet you. We saw your notice about the grimm?’

Car slowly released her expression of distrust and shook Ruby’s hand. Weiss had to restrain her eye roll.  _ Only Ruby could endear herself to someone after terrifying them half to death. _

‘Oh, yes, the notice. I don’t know that I still need help anymore though.’ She began to lead the way out of the field, perhaps worried about them causing anymore damage to what remained of her crops.

‘The attacks have stopped?’ Blake asked.

‘Well no, but I negotiated with some of the men who transport goods into the city and they’ve agreed to allow me to load my produce in their vehicles for safer travel.’ Murphy’s words rang true in Weiss’ mind.

‘That’s generous of them,’ Weiss said doubtfully.

Car must have recognised her tone, ‘Well, I’m paying them to take them in.’ They entered the cottage and were greeted by the sounds of a TV playing cartoons and a small girl playing with some trucks on the carpet. The girl had scales on her face, easily identifiable as faunus, though Car herself showed no such signs. Weiss wondered if Blake could identify a faunus just by looking at them, whether their traits were hidden or not.

‘That doesn’t sound like a problem solved.’ Yang’s voice brought Weiss’ attention back to the topic at hand. ‘It looked like the grimm were destroying your field. How is safer transport going to help with that?’

Car sighed and led them into the tiny, homely kitchen. Something was simmering away on the stove, and when Car lifted the lid to check, a deliciously warm scent wafted out of it. Weiss had often wondered what it would have been like growing up and having access to the kitchens and their wonderous smells. This one miniscule kitchen felt homelier than anything within the cold white walls of the Schnee Manor.

‘They weren’t getting that close before. I could just hear them out in the woods nearby, crashing around and destroying the trees.’ Car replied.

‘But now they’re getting closer?’ Ruby asked.

‘Just that one time, a couple of days ago,’ Car said uncertainly, ‘They seemed to get distracted by something else and leave.’

‘The grimm are attracted to fear and negative emotion. If they were in that field just there.’ Weiss looked at the window to the spot she was referring to. ‘They would have undoubtedly sensed your presence. Assuming you were scared,’ she added.

Car nodded, ‘We were.’ Her eyes flicked to where the girl was playing in the other room.

‘It’s possible that there were others nearby who were more alluring and drew the Grimm away. You’re unlikely to get that lucky again.’ Weiss finished, wanting to emphasise that grimm don’t just lose interest or take pity on the weak.

Car looked very stressed as she pulled up a stool and sat down. She pressed her fingertips together and gnawed her lip anxiously.

Ruby laid a hand on her arm. ‘We’re here to help. We’re trained for this stuff.’

‘We don’t want to tell you what you have to do,’ Yang said, ‘But you need to realise that you are in a lot of danger. Even if the grimm never actually approach the house, your fields are just going to keep getting torn up.’

‘They will approach the house though. Eventually.’ Blake said darkly.

‘Yes, yes I see what you’re saying,’ Car murmured, ‘I’ve been thinking the same myself.’ She sighed and took her hat off, running her fingers through her hair. ‘I just hoped that if they stayed in the woods, then this arrangement with the delivery men would be enough.’

‘How many are there?’ Weiss asked, ‘It might not be so big a job.’

‘I’ve seen at least three.’ Car replied. They looked at each other. Three wasn’t so bad. If that was all there was. ‘I can offer you what I’m paying the truck drivers, if you can guarantee I won’t need their help after your work.’

‘We’ll clear the entire area and make sure there are no grimm left in the vicinity.’ Ruby said confidently, ‘But new grimm may migrate into the area over time.’

Car nodded and stood up. She shuffled through some papers on the sideboard until she pulled out a small diary and thumbed through it. ‘The drivers offered to take my produce for six months for thirteen thousand lien a month. I’ve already paid the first month, so I can only offer sixty five thousand lien to you.’ She looked up anxiously from her book. ‘Is that alright?’

All of their mouths dropped open when she read the total. They were stunned into silence for a moment while she looked between them nervously.

‘Sixty… five? Thousand? Sixty five- what?’ Yang’s brain seemed to have shorted.

‘That’s too much!’ Ruby suddenly blurted out. ‘That’s WAY too much.’

Car seemed very surprised by this response and was uncertain how to respond.

‘For three grimm?’ Weiss asked incredulously.

‘Yes, I think so,’ Car agreed, looking between their faces, ‘That’s a lot, isn’t it?’

Blake seemed to regain her composure the fastest. ‘We will investigate the area to determine the size of the pack and will renegotiate price based on our findings. But, um,’ she frowned, ‘That’s a lot of money. Far more than a typical search and destroy mission like this one warrants. Unless those guys know something we don’t about these grimm, they are overcharging you.’

Now Car was the one whose mouth was gaping. ‘Really? They made it sound as though they were risking their lives.’

‘Well it depends,’ Yang replied, finally managing to overcome her shock. ‘If they are just drivers, it could be dangerous. But even the most basic combat training would be enough for three. Did they seem like bandits?’

‘They were the usual sort of brutish-looking men who join a lot of the gangs in Windpath. They seemed tough and were armed.’

‘Then they are definitely trying to take advantage of you.’ Weiss said, feeling anger simmering inside her.

‘As Blake said,’ Ruby began, ‘We’ll take a look and see what we find. But we won’t accept that much money. It would be unethical.’

Tears sprang into Car’s eyes, surprising them all. She quickly wiped them away but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. ‘Thank you.’

‘Um, that’s okay,’ Ruby responded, clearly feeling awkward, ‘We’re gonna take a look around now.’

Car nodded and turned around to busy herself with the pot and hide her face.

-

Hazy tobacco smoke clouded the air, clinging to the hanging spherical lamps that emitted a dim golden light that barely pierced the veil of smog. In the dull illumination, the walls of aged and chipped wood veneer took on a glossy yellow. Each time the door opened, a draught blew in, throwing new areas of the bar into light; catching the attention of each shifty-eyed patron as they huddled in the shadows of their tables.

Qrow sat deep in his booth at the back of the bar having glared a large, scarred man out of the seat. It was darker in his corner; the daylight from the narrow, louvre windows high on the walls at the front barely penetrated the murky room. Unsurprising considering bar was at basement level, deep in the lower dock region of Windpath. The salt air that breezed in mingled with strong spirits and second-hand smoke.

He swirled his scotch in his left hand and held his notes up to his face with his right. The bare bulbs above him did little to illuminate his seat, and he could only catch glimpses of other tables and their dark shadowy masses that moved out of the corner of his eye. He watched. Harbinger was only a millisecond of muscle memory away. He just had to wait.

He flicked the screen of his scroll over to a list strewn with bold, black lines striking through the names of friends and acquaintances.  _ Wouldn’t hurt to ask. _ His gut sank low, and he took long sip of his drink. The lukewarm liquid ran down his throat with an unrecognisable burn, but a sort of familiarity. It was terrible, but he wasn’t paying top shelf prices. He didn’t even expect the place to have anything resembling a top shelf. The amber liquid swirled with the movement of his hand. 

On his own, in an out-of-the-way bar. The situation was practically her calling card.

He closed his eyes for just a moment. Listened hard, half expecting to hear it. A slight static and glimmering whir – the sounds of the air parting in red. There was nothing. Nothing but rumbling voices, and glass mugs that clinked and scraped against chipboard tables.  _ Not today then. Good, that’s not why I’m here. _

The creaking of vinyl snapped his eyes open, his hand already reaching toward his hilt. A broad, muscular woman slid into the booth seat opposite him, leaning forward into the light. Qrow kept his grip on Harbinger, eyeing her off suspiciously.

‘Are you Kaiyō Kaigun?’

The woman nodded and gave a roguish grin. She was dressed in a torn navy denim jacket, with a loose, white ribbed singlet underneath, and two large carbon fibre pauldrons – battered white with an untidy grey stencil spray of a triangular sail and three tight swirls. Her jet black hair was pulled back into a tight bun, baring the weather worn face of a woman in her mid-forties. Her dark eyes gleamed with a bluish tint as she sized him in turn.

‘Are you the guy with questions? Needed some local knowledge?’ Her voice took on the same gravelly cadence as many other locals, and Qrow began to wonder if there was something about the sea air that strained vocal chords, and stripped them of their treble.

‘Yeah, that’s me.’ Qrow released his blade, and picked up his drink, absent-mindedly swirling it. It would be polite to buy his informant a drink, but looking out into the hazy bar, Qrow couldn’t identify any server he could flag down.

‘Not thirsty,’ Kaiyō idly commented, and Qrow kept his face neutral, despite being taken aback at how observant she was. 

‘Hmm, alright.’ Qrow stared her down, unwilling to be the one who broke into the pre-arranged conversation. She calmly gazed back, but he could tell from the slight flexing of her fingers that the suspense was annoying her.

‘Did you have questions or not?’ Kaiyō finally asked, leaning forward, her wide shoulders dominating her side of the table.

‘Yeah, about the system here. And the players.’ Qrow downed the remnants of his scotch. ‘But first, you recognise any of these names?’ He slid his scroll towards her with the list of missing huntsmen and huntresses.

She picked it up and quickly scrolled through the list. ‘A couple.’ She passed it back. ‘But I haven’t heard them in a long time.’

Qrow pocketed his scroll with a low sigh, pulling the stained napkin that came with the drink in between them, and clicking a pen. ‘Fair enough. I gather one of the beat cops I spoke to told you that I was looking into the local… organisations.’ He didn’t wait for her response, but she was so far unsurprised. ‘I’m looking for some names.’

Kaiyō leaned back, drumming her fingers on the table. ‘I’d like names too. Starting with yours.’

‘I plan on keeping that one to myself,’ Qrow replied.

‘I keep tabs on people that come and go here. You’re relying on that now. I wouldn’t have any names if I took ‘no’ for an answer.’

Qrow reach into his inner-pocket and pulled out a money clip. He had already determined what he was willing to pay. He rested the lien on the table. ‘I’m not looking for secrets, I just want a lay of the land. Who’s doing business around here?’

Kaiyō halted her fingers on the table for second, contemplating the money for a moment. She reached forward and popped the clip open with one unmanicured finger. She fanned the cards out on the table and divided them in half, sliding five thousand from the pile towards her. Qrow raised an eyebrow.

‘If you’re only after basic gang knowledge, it’s hardly worth the full ten. Could probably pick most of it up on the streets, but I can save you time.’ She dropped the lien in the breast pocket of her jacket and leaned forward again. ‘So, what do you want to know?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for your comments! I will try and be more consistent with posting now that I'm on holidays.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have just discovered I can reply to comments! Please know that I have read all of them before and adored you guys for it, I just never realised I could respond directly.
> 
> On that note, please enjoy the next chapter! Unbeta'd again.

Team RWBY fanned out around the fields, carefully watching for vegetables that might suddenly appear underfoot, and examined the tracks of the grimm that had ploughed across the rows.

‘They don’t get any closer to the house than here,’ Yang called out, standing at the edge of the rows where they were earlier. ‘There’s no sign of anything closer, unless it’s on the other side of the building.’

‘Come on guys, we’re going to stick together until we know just what we’re dealing with,’ Ruby called them over. ‘I don’t want anyone stuck on their own if this mission is as dangerous as those driver guys seem to think.’

‘Yeah, what’s up with that?’ Yang asked as she jogged over to join them. ‘You don’t think maybe they’ve framed the whole thing, do you? To make Car nervous enough to pay for their protection? I mean, it’s unlikely the grimm would have left the area completely if they’re drawn to her emotions, and yet there’s nothing here.’

‘It would make sense considering what the innkeeper told us about the lack of mercenaries. Car wouldn’t have had anyone else to turn to in the town if we hadn’t shown up,’ Blake agreed, cautiously tiptoeing around a torn up patch of soil.

‘She saw them though,’ Ruby reminded them, starting their walk into the woods from the direction the grimm tracks led, ‘They were close enough to the house.’

‘It’s possible she hasn’t seen a grimm before, and they made convincing costumes,’ Weiss suggested, though her words were laced with doubt. ‘I do know that some Atlas military personnel have these claw-style weapons that attach to the forearm. If these guys are involved in our Atlas smuggling ring, they would have been able to use the stolen technology to ruin the ground as though they were large beasts.’

‘Huh, claws you say?’ Yang looked thoughtfully at her Atlas-made arm.

‘You have a desire for a little more hack and slash with your punches?’ Blake asked with amusement on her face.

Yang furrowed her brow and did some small test punching and slashing movements, as though miming out what her new technique would be, and then grinned. ‘Nah, I’ve already hit perfection and you can’t improve on that,’ she replied cheekily.

Ruby chuckled while Blake snorted in disbelief, but something caught Weiss’ eye.

‘Look at the trees here. They’re misshapen.’ She pointed towards twisting, deformed branches on the large elm beside them.

Yang stepped forward to take a closer look, her fingers reaching out to trace the jagged bark. ‘This is pretty similar to some of the ones we saw on our way from Mistral.’ 

‘True, but it’s old.’ Blake looked the trees up and down. ‘They’ve grown and recovered into those shapes.’

Weiss craned her neck to see the thicket beyond them, noticing that quite a few had taken on a similar form. 

Ruby nodded slowly while she examined their surroundings. ‘If it was recent grimm activity they’d just be destroyed.’ She turned to look back the way they’d come. ‘I also think we’re out of earshot of the house now. If the grimm activity was any further in this direction she wouldn’t have heard them to be nervous enough to post the notice.’

‘Okay, so we search somewhere else?’ Weiss caught Ruby’s eye and received a nod in response. ‘Where did she say the grimm ran off to the night they were close to the house? Surely there would be some tracks there.’

‘I think it was west,’ Blake said.

They headed back towards the main road up to Windpath, and crossed over to the other side into equally dense forest. They had only spent a few moments searching before they heard a quiet exclamation from Blake.

‘Oh.’ They all converged on her location, noticing the ripped and bent branches, shards of bark cracking underfoot. Though where they expected claw indents, they also found blast marks. It seemed that someone had tried to fight off the grimm.

‘Oh my,’ Weiss repeated when she finally came across what Blake had seen. It wasn’t quite a clearing but the trees were more dispersed. Many of them had been knocked down, torn out, or blown up, creating a wider open area. Weiss heard the other two arrive behind them and make similar noises of concern.

However, the trees were not what had caught their attention. They had instead stumbled across a deathly silent warzone. The smell of dry, metallic blood hung in the air, mixed with the barest hint of burning wood, and the overpowering smell of decay.

‘Spread out and search the area for survivors, but don’t venture out of hearing range,’ Ruby spouted off quick instructions with the slightest hint of a waver in her voice, and they all jumped into action, weapons drawn.

There were several bodies strewn between the gnarly roots; face up, face down, collapsed over logs, and some hidden behind. Weiss guessed they were a couple of days old and beginning their decomposition. She held her breath and moved in to check the pulse on one of the bodies near her laying out in the open, but as she drew closer she could see the deep claw marks across the chest and the pool of blood that had soaked into the soil. She stepped away, brushing the swarming flies from her face, and moved to the next.

Their clothing reminded her of the rougher Windpath residents; all leather and light armour, which was hardly surprising considering they were out in the middle of the forest. The soil was littered with bullet shells and she occasionally came across a cudgel or sword. The next body she approached was also beyond help, lying at such an unnatural angle that it couldn’t possibly be alive. A pistol rested in the grass just beyond the motionless hand’s reach.

She had begun to turn away, only to pause and glance back. She crouched down, fighting the instinct to gag at the slumped figure. She gently pushed back the body’s shoulder to take a closer look at the wound that had caught her eye. There were no telltale signs of grimm savagery across the thin, steel plate that covered the torso. There was instead one large, singed hole in the waist, just below the breastplate, from a high-impact munition.  _ This one was shot? _

‘Hey, guys! Over here.’ Weiss heard Ruby call out to her right. She carefully stepped through the debris and wreckage towards Ruby’s voice, noting another gunshot wound in a corpse as she passed.

When she emerged from the tree line, she was faced with a razed campsite. There were fewer bodies here, dressed in similar bandit-style clothing. The area itself, however, had been completely trashed and looted. Wooden crates were stacked with their sides pried off and tossed aside, lying among the collapsed tents that flapped emptily in each passing breeze. A small van had been pushed onto its side, and was effusing an overwhelming smell of engine fluid. There were deep tire tracks embedded in the soft ground leading northwards.

‘Wow.’ Was the only comment Yang could muster.

‘What did you guys find?’ Ruby asked as she approached the bodies, stopping short when she grew close enough to realise they were long dead.

‘A lot of destroyed woodland, and a couple of dead bandits,’ Blake replied, ‘Though not all killed by grimm, I would guess.’

Weiss nodded, agreeing with Blake’s assessment. ‘It looked as though a couple of the bodies I found had been shot. And now looking at this campsite... I’m guessing a lot of this damage wasn’t the grimm.’

‘I’ve seen a few different weapon scattered around the place,’ Yang added, taking a few tentative steps closer, ‘But some of these injuries looks like laser blasts. My guess is that these guys,’ Yang gestured to the campsite, ‘weren’t as well armed.’

‘Laser? Like Atlas military weapons?’ Weiss guessed, and Yang gave a noncommittal shrug.

‘So,’ Ruby said, approaching the stack of crates, ‘We’re thinking there was some kind of turf war or attack. One group began an assault on the other’s campsite, tearing up the woods, and was likely the source of distress that drew the grimm away from Car’s farm?’

‘This camp was clearly storing something that has now been looted,’ Blake commented thoughtfully, ‘And their attackers had better weapons. It’s possible that this was an attempt to take out some of the smaller competition.’

Weiss moved to stand beside Ruby at the crates, though it was immediately apparent that they had all been emptied aside from loose packing material. ‘No hints as to what they were storing,’ she lamented as she fingered a piece of the white foam material.

‘Did any of you find a body of the attackers?’ Yang asked. They all shrugged uncertainly. Without any sort of identifying uniform or symbols, it was difficult to distinguish who was who among the corpses.

Ruby let out a long world-weary sigh, and Weiss felt a clenching in her gut at the sound.

‘Well,’ Ruby turned to her team, ‘we can report this back in Windpath-‘

‘I doubt that Windpath’s finest will care enough to get involved in some kind of bandit war.’ Blake interjected, but Ruby was already nodding her agreement.

‘- But, we’re not here for this. These people are long past our help. Now we have solid proof that there are grimm about, who could be terrorising Car, and it’s our job to eliminate them.’ Ruby finished.

Yang looked around them. ‘If this was only a couple of days ago, I would be surprised if the grimm weren’t still lingering here. We should probably search the area.’

‘Okay, Weiss and I will search the West and North sides of this area, Blake and Yang will do the others.’ They all gave their assent and split off.

They didn’t have to search long. The grimm in question were still loitering around the area, drawn to the remnants of chaos at the campsite. They were dispersed and few in number, making it almost easy to pick them off one by one. Weiss and Ruby did their patrol most of the way in silence, both feeling the weight of what they had witnessed.

‘I can’t believe they all just killed each other like that,’ Ruby said quietly as she looked up from her scope as a howl died in the throat of a sniped beowolf.

‘Yeah,’ Weiss replied, equally softly, ‘Lucky for Car though.’

‘Everyone around here is terrible,’ Ruby muttered as she continued onwards, ‘Killing each other for business, scamming a scared woman for nearly eighty thousand lien.’ She shook her head.

‘Car isn’t terrible though,’ Weiss pointed out, hoping to revitalise the pervasive optimism that Ruby generally possessed. Her despondency was uncharacteristic, and Weiss swallowed hard at seeing Ruby so downtrodden. ‘Neither is our innkeeper.’

Ruby sighed and ran her hand through her hair. ‘Yeah,’ she said turning to Weiss with a smile, ‘They’re the people we fight for.’

‘Besides,’ Weiss continued slowly, faint memories springing to mind, ‘We don’t know these people’s stories. Maybe this is a life they fell into without choice. Maybe they don’t know any other way to live.’ She recalled the way her father’s voice had echoed when he berated the servants in the great hall; the hurt, but resigned expression that had come over Klein’s face when she had repeated those criticisms in the voice of a six year old.

‘Hmm,’ Ruby said with a grin, pulling Weiss back to the present, ‘How very understanding of you, Weiss.’ Her tone was playfully teasing, and Weiss hid a smile at the gentle, good heart standing before her.

‘Shut up.’ She gave Ruby a shove and earned a giggle in response, but she was glad she had cheered Ruby up at least a little. 

There was a sudden, slight rustle among the leaves to her left and they fell immediately silent. Weiss turned towards the sound, and in a sudden rush of motion, a sharp, golden stinger came plunging out of the undergrowth. She quickly drew up her hands to make the sign for a glyph, but before she could complete the movement, the death stalker struck her the chest with the sharp tip, and she felt her aura shudder as it absorbed the impact. Weiss felt her back collide forcefully with a tree trunk, the bark cracking and giving way behind her. The air was knocked out of her lungs, and black spots fluttered in her vision as she struggled to catch sight of Ruby.

A blinding light suddenly split through her recovering vision, and Weiss instinctively threw her arms over her eyes. She could dimly hear an unearthly screeching that seemed to echo among the trees, and the singing of blade as it whistled through the air. She kept her eyes squeezed shut while the light continued to blaze through the gaps in her arms. The screeching sound waned away to silence.

‘Ruby!’ She called out, peeking from between her fingers. The light had faded, and she could just see the death stalker’s form begin to crumble and blow away as she dropped her arms from her face. ‘Ruby?’ She tried again, shakily getting to her feet while pain bloomed between her shoulder blades where they had hit the tree.

‘Yeah.’ A small and exhausted voice responded in between heavy breathing. ‘I’m here.’

Weiss span around looking for the source of the voice, and found Ruby on one knee, clutching her head in her left hand and gripping Crescent Rose in the right. Weiss dashed forwards and dropped down beside her. ‘Ruby? Are you okay?’

‘Mmmmm,’ was all Ruby could bring herself to say as she winced in pain.

‘Okay, hold on, just stay put,’ Weiss said, looking around the area. ‘I’m going to check if there are more.’ She got to her feet, gripping Myrtenaster firmly as she quickly paced the area and listening closely for signs of other grimm. A few brief seconds of near silence, followed by the re-emergence of quiet chittering wildlife, and Weiss’ heart rate began to slow.  _ Is it luck? _ She wondered hesitantly, looking back to Ruby who hadn’t moved and was trying to steady her breath.

She returned to Ruby’s side and put Myrtenaster down. She gently eased Ruby out of her kneeling position into something more comfortable and sat beside her. Yang and Blake would be well out of earshot, and they didn’t have the reach of the local comms tower here. Weiss bit her lip anxiously. She couldn’t think of an alternative to sitting and waiting with Ruby while she tried to recall everything she knew about the silver-eyed power.

After a couple of minutes of nervous fidgeting, and the conclusion that she knew  _ nothing _ about Ruby’s ability, Weiss couldn’t keep silent any longer. ‘Ruby? How are you doing? Is it getting better?’

‘Mmm yeah,’ Ruby replied, ‘Slowly.’ She moved to lift her head but cringed and sagged back into her slump.

‘Right. Okay, good.’ Weiss nodded resolutely to herself.  _ We’ll just wait. And I will protect us. _ She sat vigilantly for another few minutes, on high alert for any sounds that might hint they were about to be attacked.

Ruby finally let out a long breath. ‘Well that sucked.’

Weiss’ face crinkled with concern. ‘What happened?’ She asked hesitantly. ‘That... light. It was your eyes, wasn’t it?’

Ruby looked up at her and tried to smile reassuringly. ‘Yeah, but it’s okay now.’

‘But... why? Why did they activate? It was only one death stalker, we could have taken it together,’ Weiss asked.

Ruby frowned. ‘I don’t know, I think it caught me off guard. And then I saw you get hit. I just… reacted.’

Weiss chewed her lip, her hands hovering around Ruby helplessly. ‘It’s coming more easily,’ she said finally. ‘Right? It used to take a lot more to burst out of you like that, and then it would knock you out.’

Ruby nodded slowly and experimentally. ‘Yeah. I might not be unconscious, but it definitely hurts a lot.’

‘And the death stalker?’

Ruby looked over to where it had been and furrowed her brow, trying to remember. ‘I think… when my eyes activated, I was already in mid-swing. My scythe went straight through it. Like butter, actually.’ She screwed up her face at the comparison.

‘Hmmm.’ Weiss tucked her hands into her lap, and watched Ruby close her eyes and take deep, slow breaths. A breeze picked up and whistled through the twisted trees, pulling up streams of leaves that fluttered around them. Weiss heard the gentle chirping of a nearby sparrow, and took it as confirmation that there were no grimm left in the area.

Ruby lifted her head and made eye contact again, though Weiss was surprised to see she looked a little guilty. ‘I’ve been feeling it. Here.’ She pointed to her temple, but then moved her finger towards the corner of her eye. ‘Maybe here. While we’ve been fighting these grimm, I could feel it just slightly pressing behind my eyes. I should have said something.’

‘You were holding it in?’

Ruby nodded, ‘I could feel the strain. It was pretty minor compared to some of our other fights, so I thought I could just hold it back. I could sort of see the white in the corner of my vision. And then when that grimm surprised us, it just... overwhelmed me.’

They both sat for a moment, contemplating what to do.

‘Is it getting easier to manage?’ Weiss asked after a moment. ‘If it’s releasing more often, and it’s not hurting you  _ as _ much, then maybe it is also getting easier to control?’

Ruby sighed. ‘I wouldn’t know,’ she said flatly, ‘I don’t know what it’s supposed to do or feel like. I don’t know what in control would look like.’

Ruby’s expression had grown sombre; a slight downturn of her pursed lips, and a tiny crease between her eyes. Her eyes had stopped seeing the forest, and were instead lost deep in her thoughts. There was a bitterness that had accompanied her words. Weiss frowned in sympathy.  It was yet another thing no one had bothered to explain. Or maybe no one could explain. Another unknown and another set of problems.

‘Come on,’ Weiss stood and offered her hand to Ruby. ‘We should meet back up with the others and continue this is as a full team. If we don’t know how to control it, then at least we can mitigate the side effects.’

Ruby took her hand and was heaved to her feet. ‘You mean protecting me while I’m weak and useless?’ she asked dryly.

‘Yes, exactly,’ Weiss replied with a grin. ‘Are you good to keep going? We might be attacked on our way back.’

‘Yeah, I should be fine.’

-

It was mid-afternoon by the time they returned to South Pass Farm. They had cleared the area once separately and had done a second round as a full team. Yang had been very concerned to hear about what had happened to Ruby but had conceded there was nothing they could do at the time. She pressed on, keeping a close eye on her sister. Once the initial headache had abated Ruby seemed her usual self again, so Yang could only conclude that she was fine.

It didn’t solve the mystery of what was wrong with her, or how these powers could be controlled, and Yang was beginning to grow very frustrated with the limited information they were working on. Everyone had known about Ruby’s abilities except the two of them, until they had manifested unexpectedly. There had been plenty of opportunity to explain them to her, or help them understand them. If Summer had truly also had this power, then surely Ozpin, Qrow, or even their dad should know more.

But now Summer was dead, Ozpin was comatose, Tai was back in Patch, and Qrow was either keeping more secrets or truly didn’t know any more than the fairytale he had repeated to Ruby. On the one hand, Yang couldn’t fully believe that was true if Summer had been using the same ability, but on the other, Ozpin seemed fond of his secrets and if he hadn’t felt the need to divulge them to Ruby herself, then why should she expect Qrow to have been entrusted with the knowledge?

All in all, Yang had spent a lot of their final walkaround kicking stones and being generally displeased at her sister’s suffering. And there was nothing she could do about it without at least one of those people helping.

_ Or maybe there’s someone else who knows. _

Yang shook the thought from her mind before it could take root. Her mother hardly made herself available for asking questions, and there were so many for her to answer. 

They completed a quick search around the other sides of Car’s property, relieved to find the only evidence of grimm movement was from the direction of the destroyed campsite.

‘They’re all gone?’ Car asked wide-eyed.

‘We believe so, but if any of the grimm that usually inhabit this area were further away today, we may have missed them,’ Ruby replied. ‘It would be safer if we came back another day to just confirm there haven’t been any other attacks.’

‘Do you have the ability to contact the town if you’re in trouble? Is there any sort of comms signal out here?’ Weiss asked, pulling her scroll out to check for reception.

‘Yes, I have a booster device,’ Car turned to rummage behind her TV, and pulled out a small, rather beaten up, blinking metal box. ‘I bought it once when I was in Windpath. They said it lets me, um... ‘ Car seemed quite lost at the technicality behind it.

Yang moved forward to investigate and Car gladly handed the device over. ‘This will let you piggy-back off the comms tower at Windpath?’ Car shrugged helplessly. ‘Can I please see your scroll?’

Yang toggled the ‘contact-sharing’ option on Car’s scroll phone and briefly tapped it against her own to complete the transfer. She made a quick experimental call from Car’s scroll to her own with the newly created contract. ‘Incoming call from [Car Otenoi] scroll’ flashed up on her screen, and Yang let out a satisfied hum.

‘Looks like it works just fine,’ she said.

Ruby stepped forward to offer her own contact details. ‘If you come across any grimm we’ve missed, please call me and we’ll come out as fast as we can. Even if it’s late.’ Car tapped the scrolls together with a wide smile.

‘Thank you girls so much. Are you… are you sure you don’t want the full payment?’ There was an obvious hesitation in her voice.

Ruby shook her head emphatically. ‘There really weren’t too many grimm in the area. What you’ve paid already is plenty, thanks.’

Car nodded with palpable relief, sitting down heavily on her kitchen stool. The young child darted out of the room, pushing two toy cars noisily down the hall, and gleefully commentating her own race. Yang felt a grin slip out across her face, grateful for the innocent distraction.

‘Do you know anything about the bandits and smugglers in this area?’ Blake asked with a dark expression across her face, and bringing Yang back down to reality. ‘We believe they’re the ones who drew the grimm’s attention the other night.’

Car seemed puzzled, ‘Drew their attention? How?’

‘There seemed to be a conflict between two groups across the other side of the road. All the negative emotion attracted the grimm. More intense emotion than yourself and a child could emit with fear,’ Weiss explained, dancing around the violence that they had witnessed.

A shadow crossed Car’s face, and she toyed with the handkerchief in her hand. ‘Ah, I see. The bandit groups around here are always vying for each other’s land. Or their products. Or even their people. Hardly surprising that people who make their living off stealing and cheating would attempt to steal and cheat each other. Won’t even do the hard day’s work of stealing from the original source. It’s as though Windpath attracts bad-news-types, and they just get worse the longer they stay here.’

‘No honour among thieves then,’ Yang muttered to herself.

Car shook her head with a scowl, and working herself up into a fluster. ‘Not in the slightest. Some groups are larger and stronger than others and are determined to keep a monopoly on their business or what have you.’ She paused, seemingly realising that she was on the verge of veering down a tangent. She collected herself and thought for a minute. ‘I know those men who offered me their driving services weren’t from this area specifically. Said they were transporting things to and from the area to the north of Windpath.’

‘The north? You’re a long way out of their way then,’ Yang said with a frown.

‘Exactly, I would guess if their operation spanned across both the north and south of Windpath then they were part of a larger group.’

‘And they were the ones who likely attacked the group down here,’ Ruby concluded. ‘If those driver guys come back and give you a hard time, let us know. You could even drop the hint that we know about the attacks and will be making statements to Windpath police. Not such a good idea for them to draw any more attention to themselves.’

Car nodded, and then broke into a crooked, warm smile. ‘Thank you girls, but I think I’ll able to handle them.’

Yang returned the grin, and despite her tiredness and growing hunger, couldn’t help but feel a certain satisfaction.

-

Qrow stretched his legs out along the park bench, Harbinger resting beside him. He had located a large, yet vastly overgrown garden that had sprung up on the lower edge of the town’s cliff spiral. Unlike the buildings further from the centre of the spiral, the terrain hadn’t been flattened and smoothed, instead retaining the coarse, uneven, and rocky ground that was to be expected at the base of a cliff. The paths were lined with hedges and brick arches, dividing the garden into segments that were hidden among sheets of ivy, tall leafy trees and enormous flowering bushes that hung pretty yellow star-shapes and purple dew drops over the heads of visitors. Qrow had never truly had an appreciation for the neatly cropped gardens from Tai’s favourite travel and lifestyle TV shows, but he could feel a sort of familiarity with the wild and untamed nature that surrounded him.

Some of the garden’s sectors had been kept clear for public use and recreation and Qrow had managed to find a bench at the crossroads of several of these pockets. Behind him, he could hear the childish squeals and screeches as young kids climbed and jumped off the rocks, reaching for the flowers above. A stark contrast to the scene to the left of him that he keenly watched in his periphery.

In the paved space beyond the archway, there was a group practising various boxing and fighting styles in pairs. They could have been a local exercise group if not for the excessively loud and aggressive grunts coming from their direction, and Qrow fought back an eye roll as one of them released a warcry. He had been sitting and subtly watching them for half an hour and had so far only determined that they seemed to pride themselves on muscle mass and intimidation alone. Every once in a while, he would catch a glimpse of the same reddish material tied into their outfits somehow.  _ Carmine Fists. _

Qrow ran a hand through his hair, and glanced down at his scroll, now with the fully transcribed napkin notes.

_ Carmine Fists – a group of brutish low-level criminals. They don’t specialise in any one particular type of operation, nor do they get involved in anything too complex. They mainly survive by running illegal merchandise or bulldozing other operations with sheer muscle. Considered one of the most combat-oriented groups in town. Can be found training in the Downfall Garden. _

He glanced back up, avoiding making direct eye contact with any of them. They certainly behaved as described; the sounds of knuckles colliding with flesh, skin splitting, and ominous cracking reverberated from their training ground. He shook his head in derision. Their aggressive and sloppy training was far more likely to cause permanent injury than improve their fighting technique. He supposed finesse would have little impact on the results of their conflicts when they were picking easy targets, especially as huntsmen in these parts were few and far between. He scowled with professional distaste as he re-read his notes. 

Built but brainless. And unlikely to be involved in the smuggling either. Qrow returned to his list.

_ White Fang – has a strong presence but its members are not as politically active as in other areas. Faunus are fairly well represented in Windpath and as such are not as prone to violent activism. They use Windpath’s laxity as a base of operations for supply to their other counterparts across Anima. Very quiet recently. Kaiyō has heard rumours about the events in Mistral but doesn’t know the full story. _

_ Messing’s Runners– very underground group run by Hav Messing. In the smuggling and blackmarket games. Run their business very quietly. Hard to locate and usually operate behind the scenes. Seem to have a wide reach but difficult to tell precisely where they are involved. _

_ Downroad Gang – a group of aggressive, disenfranchised youths frequently disbanding and reforming themselves under new leadership. No formal organisation or businesses attributed to them; the name is an informal moniker given to them due to the constant flux in members, leaders and work, but they are usually located near the Southpass. Rumour that they got involved in something too big. Majority have disappeared. _

Qrow flicked through the next set of names. Kaiyō knew of a lot of organisations, but many were new, small, or not a strong presence in Windpath. She didn’t have too many notes to offer on them, and Qrow didn’t press. He was looking for a big operation with the sort of connections that could arrange for airships flying to and from Atlas. 

His thumb halted the screen’s scroll. He hovered over a name lost amongst the others.

_ Branwen Bandits – led by Raven Branwen. Small presence in Windpath, more notably from the West side of Anima, but numbers have increased recently. Known for self-sustention rather than business operators. Current motives in Windpath unknown. _

He swung himself up off the bench and pushed some ivy out of his face.  _ Typical that Raven is infamous enough to be heard of even here. _ He slid a line through the Carmine Fist’s entry as he walked out of the garden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments. I would love to know what is and isn't working for you guys.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know it's been ages. I was procrastinating because I don't love this chapter and I wasn't sure how to fix it up. I'm still not sure I totally like, but I figure I need to post something or all never get this done. Can you believe I wanted to post before volume 6 even started? I thought editing would be easy.
> 
> Anyway, without further ado, Chapter 11.

Blake stretched her legs out under the table; her tired muscles straining pleasantly as she pushed herself further back into the seat. The cheap red vinyl squeaked and crumpled noisily against her back and she released her stretch, pushing away the empty plate in front of her.

They were just finishing their late lunch in a small diner-style café and Blake was enjoying the low afternoon sunlight that gently beamed through wide glass panes at her side. It bathed the otherwise cheap and sticky furnishings in a gentle yellow, glazing over the imperfections with a softness and Blake couldn’t help but find soothing; an impression of warmth reinforced by the diner’s heating system. 

A burst of laughter erupted from a nearby table of teenagers, pulling Blake out of her comfortable, satiated musing. The sound and was quickly met with a growl and a glare from the heavyset thugs nursing coffee at the counter, and a sigh from the waitress as she collected Blake’s plate and wiped down their table with a too-damp cloth.

Blake poured herself another cup of tea, listening to her team commiserate about the apathetic response they had received from Windpath police when they gave their report of the conflict they had stumbled across. They had filled out an informal incident report on a crumpled notepad, at Weiss’ insistence, and a ‘clean-up team’ - the two nearest officers who had just returned from their lunch break - were sent out. Ruby’s tentative question about notifying the next-of-kin had been met with a shrug and “We have a process.”

‘Well, it’s not at all like this in Atlas,’ Weiss said firmly, dabbing her clean lips with a napkin.

‘I bet General Ironwood runs a tight ship,’ Ruby responded, finishing off the last couple of fries on her plate as she once again checked her scroll for any news from Car.

‘He doesn’t govern  _ everything _ . But, I suppose he does have a strong influence on the running of the kingdom,’ Weiss conceded.

‘I imagine he wouldn’t be too thrilled about bandit gangs having turf wars in his backyard,’ Ruby replied, craning her neck over to see Yang’s scroll on the other side of the table, ‘You find anything yet, Yang?’

Yang had been flicking through her scroll for any sort of news reporting on any of the bandits or attacks. She looked up at Ruby’s question. ‘So far, nothing.’

‘You know what else is different in Atlas?’ Weiss continued, her mind quickly jumping tracks. ‘The weather. Have any of you given any thought to what you’re going to wear as you parade around in the snow?’

They all looked at each other.

‘Not really,’ Blake said cautiously, suddenly very aware of her exposed midriff and the freezing cold of the nights in these parts.

‘Hmm, I didn’t think so.’ Weiss raised an eyebrow, she paused for a moment, thinking. ‘That settles it, we’re going to look along that street of shops a couple of blocks up from here.’ Weiss abruptly grabbed Ruby’s hand and lifted her from the table in one clean movement. Ruby made a sound of surprise as she clutched at her milkshake, loudly slurping up the remnants as though she expected Weiss to confiscate it.

Blake looked down at her unfinished tea. Across from her, Yang rattled her half-full iced coffee at Weiss. ‘I’m going to finish this. My feet are sore and I want to sit longer. I can catch up.’

‘Yeah, me too,’ Blake added, trying to ignore the sudden thrum of nervous energy that raced through her. ‘We’ll catch up,’ she reiterated.

Weiss shrugged at both of them. ‘Come on, Ruby.’

‘Oh okay, fine.’ Ruby’s response came out as half sigh and half grumble. ‘But whatever we get needs to fit my carefully crafted aesthetic.’

Blake snorted as she watched the diner door swing shut behind them, the sound of Weiss’ scornful response lost beyond it, and returned her attention to the drink cradled in her hands. Stray tea leaves whirled in a circular motion each time she absent-mindedly swirled the cup. Yang was still avidly focused on her scroll, checking news feeds and local message boards. Blake took a slow sip, the tea hot and bitter against her tongue, and studied her companion.

Yang was staring down at her screen intensely, straw sitting idly against her lips. The harsh over-saturated colours of the scroll’s holo-interface reflected softly against her face in contrast to the delicate sunlit tones; abrupt shifts from blue to green as Yang suddenly flicked to another page. The slight creases in her brow were just visible beyond the golden fringe; her eyes narrowed in concentration. It was similar to the expression she had worn just a few days ago, when Weiss had pointed out her Branwen tribe captors. Blake couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking. Or what she was hoping to find.

Blake ran her fingertip gently along the rim of her cup, curls of steam warming her hand. It appeared that Yang had forgotten she was there. Blake’s lip quirked slightly at the thought. It was far more likely that Yang had habitually fallen back into their Beacon dynamic than actually forgotten she was in company.

Yang had quickly learnt that Blake tended to be introspective and preferred quiet companionship, and Blake had seen a whirlwind of energy and enthusiasm in the shape of a girl who was kind enough to indulge her antisocial tendencies. Sometimes, Yang managed to pull her out of them with a well-timed joke or persuasive chatter, but sometimes she would just drop down beside Blake, occupied by her own thoughts. After a while, Blake had begun to suspect that Yang sought out the quiet of their time together as much for her own benefit as Blake’s. 

_ We were well suited to each other’s company. Even now. _ Blake felt the pull of guilt tugging at her gut as she remembered how Yang had gravitated to her when she needed space from everything else. When Blake had first left, it had been easy enough to convince herself, at least on the surface, that Yang had just liked making people feel included. In the following emptiness, Blake had realised she’d grown to accustomed to the vibrant, playfulness that Yang provided, and it had gradually dawned on her that perhaps Yang was feeling a similar loss.

The twisting in her stomach intensified as she watched Yang take an absent-minded sip, straw caught between her teeth as her eyes darted back and forth across the screen. The teenagers broke out into laughter again, raucously calling out at each other; the words lost among their wheezes and howls. A small smile graced Yang’s lips as she caught the group in her peripheral vision, biting back a full-blown grin as the grouchy bruisers began muttering to themselves, though her attention was easily drawn back to her scroll. Blake felt her own lips pull in tandem, with an odd tightness in her chest.

‘Yang,’ she blurted out suddenly, nervously wondering where her mouth was going with this.  _ She was starting to talk to me again. What am I doing? _

‘Mmmm?’ Yang’s eyes didn’t leave her scroll as she took another sip, but her tone was enough to indicate that she was listening. It was light and pleasant and so familiar; the animosity that had plagued their relationship was gone. Just like Beacon again.  _ Why am I doing this? _

‘I’m sorry.’ Blake watched Yang freeze; the sudden and smooth cessation of all movement could have convinced Blake that time had paused just long enough for her to reconsider this course of action. And then violet eyes flicked up to meet Blake’s, and she ploughed ahead anyway. ‘For hurting you. And for leaving. I... had my reasons, but maybe my solution to one problem only created another. So, I’m really sorry.’

Blake had tried to pour as much sincerity into her words as possible, though they felt insufficient. Yang was watching her, motionless; straw still sitting in her mouth. Her eyes seemed somehow deeper as they darted around Blake’s face, looking for clues and intentions. Blake was faintly aware that even caught off guard, with an ice coffee against her lips and scroll in hand, Yang somehow still appeared collected and still.

On the other hand, Blake felt anything but still. Seconds of waiting for a response felt like hours in the face of the impassive figure opposite her.  _ God, what if I just screwed it up?  _ Her skin felt tight and the beginnings of clammy sweat formed at the back of her neck.  _ I’m just reminding her that I was awful to her.  _ Nearby, a knife scraped piercingly against a plate, and a mug was placed down with a forceful thud. The cafe suddenly felt crowded, overwhelming, claustrophobic.  _ I shouldn’t have done this here. _ A wave of anxiety rippled through Blake’s body and she could feel the onset of a familiar instinct. She clenched a fist beneath the table, trying to hold herself as poised and tranquil as Yang.

She watched Yang gently inhale, and finally speak, her voice cutting through the clamour that was overwhelming Blake’s senses. ‘We’re doing this now, are we?’

There was no malice in her words, or even the flatness Blake had endured over the last weeks. It was neutral. Maybe even friendly. Blake thought she could detect an undercurrent of amusement, but it was contrasted with the way Yang was scrutinising her movements, as though searching for something. With a jolt, she realised Yang was looking for an indication that she was going to back out.

She held her ground, even as one hand clutched her jacket under the table to stave off the nervousness. ‘I think I’d like to. It’s about time we did. If you want, that is.’

Another long pause as Yang watched her, seemingly waiting for a ‘but’. Or possibly waiting to see if Blake would just spontaneously combust. She knew Yang could tell how anxious she was, always seeing straight through her.

And then Yang placed her cup back down on the table, the ice almost fully melted and diluting the coffee. ‘I’m going to need snacks,’ she said decisively and stood up. Blake felt the pent up nervous energy discharge from her body as if released in a cloud. She slumped back against the false leather back of her booth; the seat firmer than she had anticipated. Her cramped fingers relinquished their grip on her coat; she flexed to ease away the tension that had built up.  _ So far, so good. _

She looked over to Yang, who was standing over the diner’s display case of pastries and muffins, eyes flicking back and forth between the menu and the items in front of her. She was in equal parts haloed by the fluorescent menu board from one side and the amber daylight from the other. Yang brushed away a stray hair, and pressed a finger thoughtfully to her lip. If she felt any of Blake’s hesitation, she didn’t show it. Her movements were decisive and purposeful; actions that once begun, were carried through to completion without hesitation. Poised in a way that effused confidence, holding the cashier’s attention before she had even begun ordering. Holding Blake’s attention from across the other side of the room.

Yang reached out to accept a plate from the server, a bright smile and a sparkle in her eye as she thanked him. She ambled back over to the table, a sway in her stride.

‘Okay! I have...’ Yang paused for dramatic effect, ‘Doughnut holes!’

Blake finally directed her attention to the plate Yang placed down in the middle of the table with a flourish. A delicious cinnamony smell emanated from the pile of doughy bite-sized balls. Yang reached out and plucked the top off the pile, taking a moment of appreciation as she bit down. For a brief moment, Blake forgot about the nature of the conversation to follow.

‘So.’ Yang started after swallowing her mouthful, gesturing for Blake to take one as well, ‘Where do we begin?’

Blake hesitantly reached out and picked up a glazed doughnut hole, stalling for time as she tried to work out what to say. Yang was watching expectantly, and Blake felt the guilt tug again as she realised she was keeping Yang waiting. ‘I suppose it depends on what you want to know?’

She pressed the whole doughnut into her mouth as she watched Yang’s expression crinkle in thought.

‘Why did you leave?’ Blake struggled to swallow. It was, of course, the most obvious question, and Yang had asked it so readily that it was clearly the only question on her mind, but Blake somehow still hadn’t expected it.

She forced the doughnut down, still slightly too hot, and winced as she felt the burn in her throat. She allowed herself one cooling breath, taking in the warm sugary scent, before finally opening her mouth to respond. ‘I… that’s a big question. Um-‘

‘You don’t know the answer?’ Yang asked, cocking an eyebrow as she gently pulled apart a ball and made herself lazily comfortable in her seat. Blake watched the steam curl up in front of Yang’s face, which wore an expression that Blake struggled to identify as either amused or unimpressed. 

She let out a long, resigned breath. ‘I left because Adam follows me. Wherever I go.’ She watched Yang, who was doing as equally a good job in maintaining a controlled expression as Blake was with her controlled voice. ‘And he hurts whoever is around me. I couldn’t let you be the target again. Or any of the others,’ she added, unsure why she felt the need to clarify.

Yang dropped her gaze to the plate between them. Their legs bumped together as Yang stretched out under the table. Blake could see her chewing her lips as she processed the information, but she seemed overall unsurprised. Yang reached out for another doughnut hole and took a small bite, chewing thoughtfully, tapping one mechanical finger on the table. Blake watched her swallow, the fragment working its way down the exposed throat as Yang tilted her head to the ceiling.  _ There’s no sense in doing this halfway. All or nothing. _

‘I wanted to protect you from him,’ Blake spoke again, slowly drawing Yang’s attention back. ‘He hurt you because he knew you mattered to me.’

Yang frowned. ‘What? You mean he was watching you at Beacon? That’s so...’ Blake could have almost laughed at the concern in Yang’s voice.  _ She was supposed to be angry at me. _

‘No, I don’t think so,’ Blake replied. ‘I don’t think he actually knew I would be there. But he made it very clear that he wanted to make me suffer through others.’ Blake dropped her head at this admission, feeling the guilt surging up into her throat and pulling tightly. ‘Your arm… it was just about hurting me.’

-

Thick dark locks fell to hide Blake’s face as gazed shame-facedly at the table, her ears sitting flat against her heard. Yang bit her lip. She could feel months of turmoil swirling inside her, a range of emotions battering at her gut to win out.

And here was Blake, after months, laying mistakes and grievances out in front of her, as though she were the cause. Yang sighed and shook her head.

She leaned forward again, rested her chin on one fist, propped up at Blake’s eye level. ‘I’ve never blamed you for what happened that night. You know that, right?’

Blake’s shoulders lifted and dropped in a heavy motion, seemingly unable to muster the energy for anything more. ‘You should.’ Blake’s voice came out flat.

Yang could feel creases form on her forehead and pursed her lips. This particular brand of self-pity was a patented Blake special. Yang might almost have been annoyed if she couldn’t see the genuine distress that hovered over Blake like a heavy cloud, woefully out of place in a brightly-coloured diner. 

‘I won’t,’ Yang said firmly, dropping her hand to the table to clasp it in her other, feeling the cold slightly-grainy surface of her metallic appendage against the webbing of her hand. Blake’s gaze was drawn from her lap to look at the hands in front of her, before looking back up to Yang. ‘I won’t blame you for his actions. It doesn’t make sense.’

Blake raised a sardonic eyebrow. ‘You didn’t hear him.’ Her gaze dropped away again. ‘He made himself very clear,’ she murmured.

‘Maybe so,’ Yang responded, as she watched Blake shrink into herself. ‘But he didn’t know you were going to be there. What, was he just standing around watching the battle unfold when you found him?’

Blake sighed, clearly aware of where Yang was taking this. ‘No, but-‘

‘He was fighting, wasn’t he?’ Yang held Blake’s eyes, the answer obvious as they stared each other down. ‘What if you’d never been there? What if you’d been fighting on the other side of the campus when I came across him? What if it hadn’t been me, but Ruby or Weiss?’

The silence held between them, taught.

‘You understand what I’m saying, right?’ Blake reluctantly nodded, an argument sitting on her lips. ‘He was there to hurt people. He made it his mission. One of them just happened to be me.’

Yang stared intensely into the golden eyes opposite her. They were filled with determination and somehow Yang found it ironic that Blake’s strongest conviction lay in placing the blame wholly on herself. ‘You know what I remember from that night?’ Yang asked finally, releasing Blake from their eye contact and taking sip of her drink.

‘What?’ Blake asked cautiously, her ears flattening down against her head in wariness.

‘I remember losing my composure. Forgetting everything I had learnt in training, and attacking an enemy without any sort of defence or plan.’ Yang twirled the straw in her cup, mixing together the dregs of her drink, an echo of a familiar helplessness rearing in her chest. She quenched it. ‘I remember charging full force at an opponent whose strength was completely unknown.’ She looked up and met Blake’s wary gaze. ‘I remember that you had to save me when I was trying to save you.’

Blake was clenching her jaw. Yang shrugged. ‘At least, I assume it was you who saved me. I’m not sure, because I had been knocked unconscious. Because I was angry.’

‘He cut you down-‘ Blake began in protest.

‘When I attacked him first,’ Yang interjected smoothly. ‘It’s hardly the elaborate plot you’ve made it out to be.’ She paused to watch Blake grind her teeth. ‘Do you remember it differently?’

‘How could you say that?’ Blake said forcefully, almost irritated. ‘You were trying to  _ save _ me.’ Yang smiled a little sadly.

‘Yeah,’ Yang sighed wistfully, ‘But I didn’t succeed, did I?’ She put her cup down. ‘I won’t make the same mistakes again though. I’ll be better next time.’

‘What? Next... time?’ Blake asked hesitantly.

‘Yeah. You can’t protect me Blake,’ Yang said, reaching for another doughnut. ‘Bad stuff just happens sometimes. I signed up to be a huntress and I signed up to fight Salem. If I make bad choices in a fight then I have to live with those consequences. But I know the risks.’ She lifted her arm and watched the delicate joints whir as she bent and stretched her fingers. ‘You really think he’ll keep following you?’

Blake’s eyes grew distant. ‘Yeah, I do. He’s single-minded. He’s proved as much after Menagerie.’

Yang couldn’t help but watch as Blake closed in on herself; they both recalled Blake’s retelling of the White Fang’s actions in Kuo Kuana against her family. She wanted to say something, but her platitudes and affirmations died on her tongue, pointless in the face of history. Instead she slipped out of seat and in one swift motion had slid in beside Blake and taken her hand.

‘We will stop him.’ Yang said, eyes blazing and determined. ‘And then we can both stop having nightmares.’

Blake regarded her for a long moment but squeezed her hand and a small smile emerged at the corner of her mouth. ‘Yeah. I’d like to stop having nightmares.’

-

Ruby rubbed the soft red felt between her fingers experimentally, peering closely at the texture of the material. It had a certain fuzziness that was appealing to her, but Ruby couldn’t help but feel it was more a curl-up-with-hot-chocolate blanket sort of fabric rather than a strike-fear-in-her-enemies’-hearts material. It was also a knee-length coat, which didn’t  _ at all _ match her cloak.

She heard an impatient ‘tsk’ from behind her, and the incessant scraping of coathangers against their racks. Ruby dropped the corner of the coat and turned with a cheeky grin. ‘How’s it going, Weiss?’

Weiss’ mouth was pursed in annoyance as she rapidly flicked through items on the rack, quietly muttering her criticisms and scoffing under her breath. They were in a small boutique on a side street of the main shopping road, not seeing as much business as some of the bigger and more visible stores. They had tried three different stores already and Weiss had been tempted into the quaint, paint-peeling shopfront by a pair of pale blue boots she had spied through the dusty windows.

‘Ugh, none of these are combat appropriate,’ Weiss grumbled to herself. Ruby strolled up behind her and peeked over her shoulder.

‘You know, I don’t think this store advertises themselves to the combat market.’

Weiss released the rack and stepped back, shooting a glare that made Ruby question whether or not she was directly responsible for the calamity befalling her teammate.

‘I guess we look in another one then,’ Weiss sighed, greatly aggrieved by the whole process. She promptly turned on her heel and exited the building, forcing Ruby to hurriedly thank the uninterested shopkeeper and dash after her.

‘You know we don’t have to do this, right?’ Ruby pointed out as she tried to keep pace with Weiss. ‘This was your idea.’

The evening was beginning to take over the streets, drawing long shadows along the cobbled footpaths as the sun grew lower. The other shops along the street were taking down window displays and bringing in sandwich boards.

Weiss checked her scroll. ‘We should still have twenty minutes before most of these places close.’

‘What? Nooo, we can’t be those people who show up right before closing,’ Ruby replied, aghast.

Weiss looked at her curiously. ‘They advertise certain opening and closing times. Surely that means the store owner is expecting potential business within those hours.’

‘Ugh, Weiss.’ Ruby couldn’t muster the energy to have this conversation yet again, and instead just followed her along the street.

Weiss paused in the window of a department store to investigate a range of woollen pieces, promoted as essential winter wear.

‘We’ve been in there already,’ Ruby said, pointing to a display behind the window. ‘See? You tried on that dress.’

‘I know,’ Weiss replied, tapping her fingers against the glass as she thought, ‘But we haven’t found anything. Maybe we need to revisit out options and lower our standards.’

‘Lower our standards?’ Ruby asked incredulously. ‘That’s the least-Weiss thing you’ve ever said.’ She was rewarded with the discovery that Weiss had somehow learnt to shoot a death glare from the just corner of her eye. She dutifully shut-up and waited for Weiss to finish her train of thought.

‘Well, what do you propose we do?’ Weiss finally asked. ‘I obviously would prefer a certain level of quality, but I’m not seeing too many choices.’

‘Why do we need do anything? This outfit was fine in the snow in Patch.’ Ruby gestured to her tried and true battle-clothing.

Weiss’ snorted. ‘Granted, I’ve never been to Patch, but I highly doubt the winters there quite compare to Atlas. You know, Atlas? The kingdom renowned for being too cold for even grimm to get by easily? It was one of the settlers’ key defenses.’

‘Oh.’ She supposed it was possible that she wasn’t fully prepared for the temperature on Solitas. She couldn’t imagine a sort of cold that froze grimm in their tracks.

‘Exactly. So we need to be ready in case we end up there in winter.’

‘We haven’t even found a way there yet,’ Ruby responded, turning away from the window and kicking a loose pebble out onto the street.

She heard Weiss reply behind her, ‘No, but I like to think ahead. Maybe we can get by with more underlayers?’ Her voice trailed off again as Weiss resumed her musing.

Ruby leaned her head back against the wall beside the window, and crossed her arms across her chest, watching people pass her by as they finished their day. All of them absorbed completely in their own lives, without any real concept of the darkness brewing beneath the surface of their town. It was easy to place all the blame on Salem, but today had been another stark reminder that people could be their own worst enemies. She blinked slowly as they walked past, shutters capturing each face, no one giving her a second look.  _ How many of them could kill each other as easily as those bandits? _

She felt Weiss’ hand on her upper arm, as though it had sensed her gloom on its own accord and reached out to her. Ruby allowed herself to relax and loosen the tension that the memory of violence had wound into her neck.  _ Just like Shion. _ Flashes of the wreckage of the village blinked into her cognisance and the hot smell of wood smoke burned the inside of her nostrils. Bandits seemed to be bandits everywhere. Those had been  _ Branwen  _ bandits.

Piercing crimson eyes blinked into her thoughts. A colour of anger and frustration and the snap of a boundary broken. Ruby had a strong association with those eyes.  _ But _ . She let out a long slow breath, letting it whisper past her lips with the slightest of sighs.

It was also the colour of protectiveness and justice and holding firm against all odds. Those were Yang’s eyes. It was odd to see them on someone else, standing in their way, scowling at her in way Yang could never bring herself to do, even at her most irritated. They were eyes that looked through Ruby into an angry memory that wore a similar face, and demanded retribution.  _ I guess they didn’t get on very well. _

Ruby felt a strong pull to rush toward her sister; an irrational need to reaffirm that those eyes hadn’t been hers. That Yang’s eyes would never look through her like that.

‘Everything okay?’

Ruby realised she had pushed herself off the wall and was hovering, poised to move. Weiss was watching her from the corner of her eye, all her initial annoyance gone, and only mild curiosity laced with concern remained. Ruby let go of her pent up energy, now realising she had been preparing her semblance in an old childlike urgency, and twitched her lips into a smile.

‘Yeah. Just restless.’ She turned away from the street to look back into the window alongside Weiss, the sun hitting a low enough angle that the glare made it near impossible to see in any longer, obscured by the reflection of Windpath behind her. ‘Come up with a solution to our chilly dilemma?’

‘Hmmm,’ Weiss tilted her head endearingly, ‘Not completely. We’ll have to run it by the others.’

Ruby pointed to the window. ‘Well, they caught up to us.’ The silhouetted images of Yang and Blake were growing bigger in the glass, and Ruby rotated Weiss with a hand on her shoulder.

‘Oh good, let’s go ask.’ Weiss started forward but Ruby threw her hand out to halt her movement. ‘Hey, what?’

‘Loook!’ Ruby whispered excitedly. Blake and Yang weren’t paying too much attention to them as they approached. Because they were  _ laughing _ .  _ Together. _ ‘Weiss! Look!’

‘Oh. They seem remarkably more cheerful than before.’

They were each walking with a slight bounce in their step, and were playfully nudging each other, nearly stumbling over the curb or into oncoming people, doubling their laughter. Ruby’s heart lifted at the sight.

‘ _ Finally!’ _ She nearly squealed, ‘Team RWBY is  _ finally _ back together.’

‘Hey,’ Blake said as they grew close enough. Her ears were standing tall; a good sign, Ruby had come to realise through her studies into the new language of expressive cat ears.

A paper bag was shoved into Ruby’s face. ‘We had leftover doughnut holes,’ Yang explained with a grin.

‘Yessss!’ Ruby was genuinely excited about the doughnut holes, but they paled in comparison to having her family back together. Her mind flicked back to the grim spiral it had fallen into only moments before, and ignoring the bag in front of her entirely, Ruby ducked under Yang’s arm and wrapped herself tightly around her sister’s waist.

‘Oof.’

‘Thanks,’ Ruby said, pulling in tighter and feeling one of Yang’s arms close in around her.

‘They’re only doughnut holes.’ Yang laughed, but she didn’t let go until Ruby pulled away. She looked closely at Yang’s face. There were undeniably similarities to Raven in her hair, face shape, skin colouring. But Yang was soft where Raven was hard. There was a familiar strength, and an undertone of fire in their attitude. But maybe Raven shared some of Yang’s gentler qualities too.  _ Maybe she used to be someone else. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully it ended up being okay, otherwise hopefully the next chapter is better!  
> It's been so long since I wrote this, I sort of don't remember what happens next lol. It's like reading it for the first time.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about that season finale!? Ties in nicely with this chapter.
> 
> I'm pretty late, but I always knew I didn't like this section of the story and would have to edit it heavily (though I was more procrastinating rather than editing). I cut a lot of useless stuff out, but I have to admit it was hard to keep it the same as the original story I wrote a few months ago, and not edit it to match the new lore we've learnt since. Not sure I'm super happy with it yet, but I kinda just want to maintain progress.
> 
> Anyway, I've rambled too much. Thanks for all your lovely comments and I'm sorry to keep you waiting again. Unbeta'd as usual.

Oscar felt the ground suddenly shift beneath him, and threw his arms wide for balance. He took a few quick uneven steps back, each step punctuated with cracking and popping as a dense layer of discarded electrical components and cracked plastic gave way under the pressure of his foot. Rather abruptly, the surface before him dropped away in a cascading sheet of diodes, LEDs and snapped circuit boards. He watched it fall away in a tinkling landslide to the base of the pile, and coming to stop around Jaune’s ankles. Oscar gave a sheepish wave at the startled expression that was thrown his way.  _ At least it’s electrical debris _ , he thought ruefully, the smell of the rotten food scraps in the landfill plot still very potent. 

A loud whoop echoed out through the junkyard, followed by another rushing, shattering clatter, and he turned to see Nora riding a wave of scrap from the top of an adjacent pile.

‘Nora! Some of that will be sharp!’ Ren called out in warning.

‘Ha HA!’ Nora laughed gleefully, landing neatly on her feet at the bottom of the mountain of waste, scatterings of rusty metal and glass whizzing past her feet and rolling to be lost in another towering hill. ‘What are our auras even for, if not for sailing down trash heaps?’

Oscar gave a little grin and turned back to his own pile, feeling the platform slip and shift unnervingly.

‘Anyone find anything yet?’ Jaune asked, wiping his brow with a grimy forearm.

‘Not yet,’ Oscar replied, crunching down on a light bulb as he cautiously shuffled a foot between two mounds.

The previous day had been spent a fruitlessly investigating all manner of electronics and hardware stores, both domestic and weapon related. They had found nothing of interest among the standard, strictly regulated merchandise, and no one had been interested in divulging a secret backroom selection to a group of teenagers. After team RWBY had returned with a sudden increase in funds and a successful mission, Jaune had been the one to conclude that they should return to the site of the only clue they had found.

So again, they were wading through junkpiles to find further hints of Atlas technology, and maybe some clue as to their origins.

‘I think everything in this area has been too deconstructed to be of use to us,’ Ren said as he approached them, Nora on his heels. ‘It’s near impossible to tell what is Atlesian and what isn’t.’

‘You’re right, but there was nothing in the junk plots with the intact equipment,’ Jaune replied, frustrated, ‘Anything stamped from Atlas was just general export stuff.’

‘So we’ll go try again,’ Nora said with a shrug, ‘No harm in double-checking.’ She brightened as a thought occurred to her. ‘I’ll go check with the crazy old guy again. He’s fun to talk to.’ She darted away between mountains of glittering fragments.

Oscar trudged alongside Jaune and Ren back towards the larger items to begin their search again. He could picture them doing this for days.

-

There was a strong smell of printed ink and glossy binding glue filtering through the dim light around them. Weiss wrinkled her nose. She had never developed an appreciation for the distinctive scent that spilled out of books, and would not have chosen this particular establishment to peruse. Blake, however, had been in a blindingly cheery mood and had gasped dramatically (a sound Weiss thought akin to Blake’s tuna reaction) at the sight of the small glass door with messily scrawled chalk signage, practically shoving them all in.

They had spent another long day investigating various comings and goings of deliveries to the small boutique stores around Windpath, but had found nothing suspect and Weiss was beginning to feel the same bottomless disappointment that had plagued them in Mistral. Despite her discontent with their mission, Weiss was revelling in her team’s general good mood, and most of their day had been spent in playful teasing and jibes.

This grungy little bookstore in the late afternoon was Blake’s way of rewarding them (mostly herself) with a little downtime after their mission efforts. Small, weak fluorescent lights barely illuminated the room, making the ceiling seem far lower than reality, and the dark wallpaper narrowed the space considerably. A young, rough and entirely bored looking man sat behind the counter at the back of the shop, eyes glued to his scroll with some kind of video stream quietly buzzing from the device.

The store made a concerted effort to appear small and musty; aiming for the charm of a hidden, forgotten library with worn edges and artistically flaking paint. Despite the elaborate dressing, the products were all fresh prints, clean off the presses with glossy, rigidly straight spines. Weiss looked around critically. The impact of the sprawling and untidy store was so offset with the neatly shelved, gleamingly new books, that the whole atmosphere was thrown out of balance. She sniffed in disapproval at the mismatch.

Still, Blake was floating between the low, waist-height shelves, examining section titles and picking up loosely stacked books to read their covers, already deeply engrossed in a world of her own. Behind her, Yang was idly strolling around, giving cursory glances at the printing on the covers but not particularly demonstrating any real attention. Ruby had zipped straight to the comics.

For her part, Weiss felt that they hardly had the carrying capacity for books that were just as easily purchased for download on a scroll, but she didn’t want to be the one to rain on Blake’s parade and so reluctantly headed towards the textbooks and non-fiction. She found it wedged between ‘True Crime’ horrors and ‘5-10 Years Fiction’ and forced her scoff back down her throat, thoroughly disgruntled by the sheer lack of planning that had gone into the shop layout.

She allowed her finger to scan along the titles, keeping an eye out for any topics of note. She recognised authors of economic strategy that recalled officious tutors and long tedious childhood afternoons; basic Grimm theory that had been assigned in their Beacon classes; a couple of history texts recommended by Professor Oobleck that Weiss hadn’t finished before the Vytal festival. She could picture them, sitting on the desk in their old room.  _ I wonder if the room is still even there. Are all of our possessions just sitting there? _ Her expression screwed up as she tried to remember the state of the room before the fight that day.

Her fingers slid along to smaller spines, and she realised she’d walked through the section in a daze and had hit the next one along. Glossy, tall, and narrow. The bright colours contrasted greatly with the rigid, neutral stylings of textbooks. Weiss sighed, listening for any sign that the others were done. They were still all quietly browsing, possibly waiting for Blake to run out of steam.

She turned to see if there was a biography section when a title by her finger caught her eye. She paused. Biting her lip, she reached out with one forefinger and gently tugged the book from between its neighbours. The book was stiff and stuck, clearly having sat for a long time without drawing interest. Weiss finally peeled it away from the others covers and held it up to her face to see clearly in the lowlight.

_ ‘Saviours of Silver’ _ . A cartoonish image of a figure in full plate armour stood on the cover, a sword held high against a variety of goofy purple and green monsters. Glitter had been embedded into the knight’s armour and sword, presumably to indicate that they were constructed of sparkling silver. Weiss slowly turned to the back cover.

_ ‘When monsters of darkness and despair attack the sleepy Kingdom of Lights, the town’s citizens all cried out without hope. But one little boy remembers a story his grandmother told him long ago… of knights with their silver weapons and power of light. Will Ezekiel be able to find one such silver warrior and save his home before it’s too late?’ _

Weiss gingerly held the book, eyeing it with some scepticism. She opened the hard cover and read the copyright notice within the first pages. She frowned. This particular book appeared to be a reprint from fifteen years ago, with a jazzy new cover preserved between the untouched hardcovers of its shelf companions. The story itself however, was decades older than that. First printed nearly eighty years ago.

Footsteps approached from behind, a familiar skipping step.

‘Whatcha looking at?’

Weiss passed the book over to Ruby without a word, wondering if she was reading too much into things. She watched as Ruby’s brow knitted, eyes sliding back and forth as she read the blurb. She flipped back to the front, examining the image.

‘You think-?’

Weiss shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It’s old though. Like Great War old.’

Ruby flicked through the pages, glancing at the simple fantasy styled illustrations. She met Weiss’ eyes.

‘We did just come into a bunch of money…?’

Weiss shrugged a second time. ‘I’m not sure what we could learn from a children’s story,’ she replied doubtfully, ‘But this whole thing… all of it comes from various tales and stories.’ She eyed the book with suspicion. ‘It couldn’t hurt to read it, if it will give us even a little information.’

‘Yeah,’ Ruby said hesitantly. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ This time with more confidence. She grinned. ‘Worst comes to worst, it’s just a cool story about knights fighting monsters with sweet silver swords.’

Weiss snorted, but she could feel the smile on her face. She gave an exaggerated wave for Ruby to proceed ahead of her towards the counter. Ruby attempted a poorly executed curtsy in return. 

They approached the chipped black counter and the scruffy attendant sitting behind it, with his feet up on the surface. Seeing him up close, Weiss noticed that he was even more out of place than the fresh books in a musty store. He was clothed head-to-toe in worn reddish-brown leather of varying shades, patched and torn in places. It appeared he had tried to colour-match with his hair which was peppered with rust-coloured streaks and very much gave the appearance that he had been rolling in in the dusty sand of a red desert. His deep brown, tanned skin was rough and calloused, more suited to a life of outdoor labour.

Ruby cleared her throat to get his attention, and distant pale yellow eyes flicked up, taking a second to focus on the small red girl in front of him.

‘Uh, hi? How are you going?’ Ruby began, a little thrown off by his total disinterest and lack of response. His eyes dropped down to the book in her hand, puzzled. Ruby followed his gaze. ‘Oh yeah, could I please buy this?’

The man let out a sigh and swung his legs off the counter, heavy boots hitting the ground with a thump. ‘Alright, then.’ His voice sounded scratchy and rough, and he cleared his throat noisily.

Weiss examined his beaten up clothing, noticing that the leather was thicker and more suited to combat than a typical punk outfit. There were slight tears and wears at the joints, tarnished studs on the knuckles of his fingerless gloves.

He ran up the purchase, though Weiss had seen no labels on the books, nor saw him scan any barcode. A slight niggling in the back of her mind made her feel uneasy, and she began subtly eying up their surroundings again. She caught Ruby doing the same.

That the cashier was from the questionable side of town was becoming more and more evident.  _ Possibly just a part time job when crime doesn’t pay? _ He had seemed surprised to see someone actually buying a book.  _ Maybe they don’t get too many customer buying books in the digital age? _ There hadn’t been many other browsers in store.

As Ruby handed over her lien, Weiss saw the man’s wrist. He had a plain white band, a sort of plastic casing, tightly attached, mostly inconspicuous if it hadn’t clashed so dramatically with his colour scheme. Weiss was trying to determine what particularly made it appear so out of place when it began to emanate a soft blue glow from an illuminated rectangle on the underside of his wrist. He paused momentarily and then returned Ruby’s change as though nothing had happened.

‘Have a nice day,’ his gruff voice rasped out.

Ruby returned his politeness with her best winning smile. ‘Thanks! You too!’

They turned away from the counter, Weiss making a concerted effort to not look back and raise suspicion. As they moved towards Yang and Blake who were examining the title of a hardback, another rough-looking pair, a man and woman, entered the store and made their way to the counter. As they crossed paths, the woman brushed close by Ruby, pulling her jacket back. Weiss caught a gleam of brilliant white hugging the woman’s hip.

‘What did you get?’ Yang asked, sounding a little off. Weiss noticed her glance to the back of the store and realised that the two of them had also surreptitiously been watching while pretending to discuss the book Blake was now re-shelving.

‘Oh, some kid’s story. Sounded interesting,’ Ruby’s voice was little too buoyant.

‘Can we get out of here?’ Weiss said, tweaking her voice to come out impatient and demanding. ‘This place is hardly worth any more of my time.’

On someone else, it may have sounded over the top, but for a moment she could see in her friends’ expressions that they thought she was sincerely whining before they caught on. It appeared she could play the spoilt, rich kid convincingly.

‘I wouldn’t mind coming back some time. There were a few books I’d like to take a second look at,’ Blake commented as they were exiting the store, and Weiss mentally applauded the set up for their next visit-slash-investigation.

Emerging onto the street, the cool fresh air was a welcome change from the heavy stuffiness of the dark shop and Weiss relished in blinking in the bright afternoon light. Ruby turned right as soon as they left the store and guided them a reasonable distance away, heading back up the spiral towards a more secure society.

When the buildings grew larger and more sparsely laid out, Yang spoke up. ‘So we all saw that right?’

‘Yup,’ Ruby replied, popping her ‘p’, a thoughtful frown on her face.

‘They left the back room door open,’ Blake said softly. ‘Did you see the crates?’

Weiss and Ruby made eye contact and both shrugged.

‘We couldn’t see it from the counter, must have been behind a shelf,’ Weiss replied. ‘What sort of crates?’ she asked curiously.

‘Not the sort you get books in,’ Yang responded deadpan. ‘They were big, heavy duty metal cases.’

‘The guy at the counter had a flashy, holographic wrist reader,’ Weiss thought out loud. ‘That stuff is definitely Atlas tech. They were starting to appear as a trend before I left.’

‘And the people who passed us by were carrying Atlas weapons, I’m sure of it.’ Ruby said, clutching her bag and watching her feet as she lined up each step with the pavings on the street.

‘This is our lead then,’ Blake spoke their thoughts aloud. ‘Two people carrying different top of the line Atlas products in a small bookstore with a dodgy back room.’

‘Sounds like our suppliers. Or at least our distributors,’ Yang agreed. ‘I guess we tell the others and work out how to go from there.’

‘It’s going to be difficult,’ Ruby replied, clearly still deep in thought, eyes fixed on the pavement. ‘We had an opportunity just now, to stay and listen. If we go back it’s unlikely we’re going to happen across a deal. And we can’t really hang around in store all day without it being suspicious.’

They all pondered as they approached the steep climb at the centre of the spiral, a tall upward path that was the fastest but most exhausting way to get from the docks at the bottom of the cliff to the upper echelons.

‘What if we bought something?’ Weiss suggested, feeling three heads turn to look at her. ‘If we could somehow present ourselves as buyers they might sell, and drop some hints.’ She looked up at them. ‘We’re just assuming they want to keep everything hidden, but all of their business depends on under the table deals. They might have absolutely no objection to carrying person-sized cargo.’

‘Hmm it’s a good point but risky. You can’t really come in swinging with a proposal like that without testing the waters first.’ Yang scratched her chin.

‘Well, we’ve already created a way in for ourselves. We can approach him because we noticed he has access to certain merchandise,’ Blake pointed out. ‘Gives us an opening to discuss their supply chain.’

Ruby was nodding along. ‘Yeah, it’s a pretty good idea. And if it doesn’t work we can always resort to spying anyway!’ Her stomach grumbled. ‘Maybe we work out the details over dinner?’

‘I vote sushi.’ Blake’s interjected before Ruby fully finished her question.

‘Hey!’ Weiss said indignantly, ‘We just spent our off-time looking at  _ your _ bookstore. You’ve already had your vote.’

‘ _ Technically,  _ that ended up being work,’ Blake argued with a smug grin. ‘I barely got to browse with all the espionage.’

‘You didn’t know it would be work though,’ Weiss countered, her eyes narrowing, as they began to grow short of breath trekking up the hill.

‘I supposed my huntress instincts just kicked in when I saw the store,’ Blake replied nonchalantly, flipping her hair over her shoulder and causing Yang to burst into giggles.

‘Ugh, have your sushi.’

Yang slung an arm around Weiss’ shoulders, ‘Come on, we’ll find somewhere really good, with the sort of chopsticks you wash and reuse.’

-

The sound of rain clattering against their windows melded with the hiss of a shower in the next room. Ruby let the cover fall closed over the last page of the story and rested her head on her arms in front of her; ‘The End’ disappearing behind a soft thump. She was laying belly-side down in her hard-won bed next to the window (a contest she was always going to win with her speed) and watched the rain splatter against the glass, the harsh streaks of water appearing much more aggressive than the muted sound that penetrated their bedroom.

Across the room, she could hear Weiss tapping on her scroll and Blake rustling into her pyjamas. The room they had ended up with had been long and spacious, with four single beds lined up, heads to the outer wall. The dark cedar, board and batten style wood panelling from the inn’s bar downstairs was repeated again in the bedrooms; only the grey-tiled ensuite broke the pattern. The appearance was luxurious, but the quality was fairly standard; Weiss had explained the finer points of interior design, pointing out the inferior flannel and haphazard and patchy varnish job on the walls. They had all thoroughly teased her for her assessment, particularly as she joined in with a highly entertaining exaggeration of Atlesian snobbery.

‘I’d forgotten you’d bought something.’ Ruby turned her head away from the window at the sound of Blake’s soft voice drawing nearer. She came and sat on the floor beside Ruby’s bed, bringing their heads to a similar height. She reached out for the book, pausing just before touching it, as though waiting for permission. Ruby simply nodded.

Blake’s slender fingers picked it up, her eyebrows knitted together when she saw the childish images. Ruby watched her lips move slightly as she read the summary to herself. The bathroom door opened behind them.  _ Yang’s finally done with the bathroom,  _ Ruby snorted softly to herself _. Her hair’s gonna be wet for at least an hour. _

Blake looked up from the book. ‘You think this might be about your eyes?’

Ruby tiredly lolled her head in a non-committal motion. She felt the bed depress by her knees as Weiss came over and sat down. ‘Weiss found it. We don’t really know what it is.’

Blake reached over Ruby’s head and handed the book on to Yang, who came and lay down along the head of the bed, legs curling around past Ruby’s head, and fine water droplets spattering across the covers. She had removed her prosthetic and was using her right arm to prop her upper body up off the bed, holding the book in her left.

‘Saviours of Silver?’

‘Yeah. I just finished reading it. It wasn’t very long,’ Ruby replied, picking at the flannel bedspread.

‘Did you find anything?’ Weiss asked.

Ruby let out a little chuckle. ‘I still don’t even know if it’s about silver-eyes. They never mention eyes.’ She looked up to where Yang was skimming reading pages at random, deftly flicking through them with one hand. ‘It could just be a children’s story.’

‘You think so?’ Blake questioned, ‘All stories start somewhere. Even if the influence is so abstracted from the final product.’

Ruby bit her lip. ‘I can’t help but shake the feeling that it is about…  _ something _ to do with my eyes. You thought so too, right?’ She rolled onto her back to look at Weiss.

‘Well, yes, that’s why I picked it up,’ Weiss agreed. ‘I thought it was an odd coincidence. There isn’t too much about silver against monsters in common tales.’

‘What about werewolves?’ Yang suggested with a grin. ‘A lot of the werewolf stories dad told us as kids involved silver bullets and stuff.’

‘Still,’ Blake’s voice came out firmly, and Ruby looked up to see her gazing out the window at the downpour. ‘Werewolves don’t exist. So, the concept of silver defeating monsters coming from another fairytale seems… incomplete.’ She tossed a glance and a small smile back at Ruby. ‘Who knows? Maybe your powers are actually the source of the werewolf stories.’

‘A silver-powered warrior taking down a beowolf would make for a pretty great fairytale,’ Yang chuckled softly.

‘Heh. That would be cool,’ Ruby grinned.

Weiss reached to take the book from Yang and peer closely at the cover as though more clues might suddenly emerge. ‘Did you find anything that might help at all?’

‘Hmmm, well.’ Ruby gestured for the book, then flipped open to one of her dog-eared pages. The cartoonish drawing was of an astounded knight watching a small child holding a glittering sword, the words of the story scrawled around them stylistically. ‘The knight is amazed to discover the kid can hold the silver sword, because you have to be born with the power.’

‘So, if this is about silver eyes, then all he’s saying is you had to be born with them.’ Yang thought out loud. ‘Which, you know, duh.’

‘I don’t know. At least now we know silver contacts won’t work.’ Blake replied cheekily, earning herself a flicked ear.

‘And the rest is just… I don’t know. It’s just a kids story,’ Ruby said ruefully as she sat up. ‘Exactly like the sort of Yang read to me when we were little. The heroes struggle but they eventually save the day and defeat the monsters. I’ve heard it a thousand times now, I may as well have read  _ this _ book when I was a kid.’ She could feel her disappointment welling up. ‘It doesn’t say anything about the pain, or what these powers do, or whether it’s dangerous. It doesn’t say  _ anything _ .’

She glanced around at her team, a little embarrassed to have sounded so disheartened. 

‘We should really know more.’ Yang said, her voice uncharacteristically bitter and low. They all looked at her, her eyes firmly on the book where it lay in front of her, toying with the flannel. ‘Ozpin knows more. He had plenty of time to tell you in Mistral.’

Ruby ran her fingers through her hair. ‘Yeah. I’m not sure why he didn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t ask more.’ She sighed. ‘It’s a lot to handle.’

‘We’ll find out more, Ruby.’ Weiss laid an encouraging hand on Ruby’s shoulder. ‘Atlas has huge data stores for us to look into.’

‘Qrow seems to not know anything. Or maybe he’s still not telling us everything.’ Yang continued, stuck on her train of thought. Ruby could see her sister’s thoughts nosediving, but she couldn’t tell whether it would descent into disappointment or anger. ‘They have to know more, it doesn’t make sense.’ Her fingers were now gripping the covers, tightening their hold.

‘Why do you think that?’ Blake asked, eyeing Yang’s tense hand before reaching out and gently placing her own over the top.

‘Because of mom,’ Ruby answered, her voice quiet. ‘My mom had the same eyes. Qrow said she was special. He and dad must have known what her eyes did, if she used them.’ Ruby’s voice grew unfocused and distant, and she could feel a familiar emotion welling up from inside her, as though the tears were going to start in her throat.

Weiss’ hand was still on her shoulder (she hadn’t realised), fingers began tracing light soothing patterns. An arm came up around her and Ruby realised Yang had scooted over towards her, pulling her into a firm one-armed hug. Exactly the hug that Ruby had come to recognise as ‘safe’ and ‘home’; the one that she had relied on during her childish nightmares and bruised knees. It was the feeling of a bully being punched in the jaw, and of following a cookie recipe perfectly and still not getting it quite the same as the original. Ruby’s face sank into Yang’s still slightly-damp hair, against her warm neck.

She felt a couple of stray tears leave her eyes, more out of release than the too-old sadness. It surprised her, that something long gone could suddenly catch in her throat unexpectedly; something she had found a replacement for in her father, sister and uncle. A replacement for everything except the lived experience of their shared genes. She clenched her jaw before it could tremble. Yang could try and fill the hole in every other way, but not with this.

‘I’m sorry for bringing it up,’ Yang murmured into her hair. Ruby gently pulled away, quickly wiping the tear tracks from her face. She felt the slight pang of guilt that always accompanied this sadness.  _ Yang misses her too, but she always has to comfort you whenever it comes up. _

‘It’s okay,’ Ruby gave a small smile. ‘I shouldn’t get so worked up about it.’

‘It would help if she was here.’ Yang said softly, understanding exactly what Ruby had been thinking.

‘Yeah,’ Ruby nodded sadly, but sniffed out her determination. ‘She’s not though. So we’ll have to figure this out on our own.’ She realised she used a plural, but if one thing was certain it was that Yang would help her with this no matter what. She glanced at Weiss and Blake. Her minor breakdown was probably a little awkward for them, but the sympathetic look in their eyes, the fact that Weiss still rested her fingertips against Ruby’s shoulder, and the way Blake reached out to brush their fingers together; Ruby knew they were with her.

‘Come on,’ she said with a quaver in her voice, almost getting choked up again for an entirely different reason. ‘We’ve got a lead to investigate tomorrow. You don’t all have to sit around watching me crying.’

Yang smiled. ‘Aye aye, captain.’ She lifted herself off the bed and pressed a quick kiss to Ruby’s temple.

‘Yes, we have a lot to do tomorrow,’ Weiss agreed, determinedly. She moved to get up, but pausing, half-hovering over Ruby. ‘Are you going to be okay?’

Ruby gave her a genuine smile. ‘Yeah, Weiss, I’m all good.’ Weiss returned her smile with a quick resolute nod and then moved across to the next bed.

Blake languidly stood, stretching out. ‘Good night, Ruby.’ She gave Ruby’s shoulder a quick, but comforting squeeze on her way past to the most distant bed, next to Yang.

Ruby brushed the book off the bed and crawled under the covers in one swift movement, bundling herself up and staring up at the ceiling as the rain began to fall heavier against the window next to her head. She listened to the sounds of her team for a moment, getting ready for bed, climbing under their blankets, before letting her eyes slowly drift shut.

-

The gloom seemed to deepen a shade of black with each tick of a clock. At first, the shadows of a moonlit night, and then the dizzying darkness of a hit taken too hard, shiny raven-black feathers, the coat of a prowling grimm. Repetitive, rhythmic, darker.

The tick was closer, and the space was smaller. Pounding echoes of sound.

And then a trickle of light. The smallest bright-white sparkle falling to the ground before her, before a flood of blinding light cascaded from above, illuminating the floor with odd mechanical shadows that twisted and rotated like clockwork; moving cogs painted across the ground in the absence of the light they held hostage above her head.

And in the bright half-light, pitch half-dark was a figure, cloaked in the glow. She frowned and looked again. Cloaked in white.

The cogs shifted, and the caress of light was pulled from the figure; and it was consumed by the shadow in its place.

-

Ruby rolled over restlessly, and pulled her pillow closer. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think and what you think needs improving.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this time because it felt like a better place to stop.   
> Thank you for your comments on the last chapter!   
> Un-beta'd again.

A light chilled drizzle followed them the next morning, peppering their faces. The vast sky above them had mutated into a swirling, rumbling grey, as though a palette of watercolours had been inelegantly upended and watery runs formed muted streaks.

Windpath looked entirely different in the downpour: streets devoid of life, except for the scuttling of a stray, desperate person making their way between overhanging awnings, like a cockroach startled by flicking a light switch. The gentle rhythm of the rain on the fabric canopies around them was delicately punctuated by the distant dinging of the tram bell and occasional grumblings of the sky.

It was lovely in its quiet solitude. Blake had a lot of good to say about weather that drove people away and allowed her to experience the soft beauty of a city without the hoards and their social pressures. That being said, she would usually have preferred to experience the situation under one of the inviting awnings, sitting with tea and a book. Or at least, have made some effort to travel out of the direct drizzle.

Yang however, very much enjoyed the rain, her face turned up to the clouds, the faintest of droplets hitting her skin and running together to track down her face and drip off her jaw. Every once and a while she would tip her head left and right to shake off some of the moisture, a content smile on her face. Her mass of yellow hair grew more darkly golden as they progressed, but was still far too thick to fully take on the water.

Yang had run out into the street halfway through their walk to the bookshop, and given a cheesy twirl, arms spread wide. Blake didn’t have the heart to skulk along the covered shopfronts and had loped out to join her in the rain. She envied Ruby and Weiss who would join them by tram later. Yang’s head tilted towards her, her smile widening. Blake gave a mild huff, but felt the infectious good mood warming her.

‘Your ears flick in the rain. Like, automatically.’

Blake subconsciously reached up. She knew her ears were reacting to each of the larger drops, instinctively trying to deflect. ‘Yeah, I guess so.’

‘I’ve never seen them in the rain.’

‘No, I suppose not.’ Blake wasn’t entirely sure where she was leading the conversation. Yang merely gave her a grin and then turned back to the sky, hands in pockets, her long strides effortlessly cool.

They arrived out the front of the suspicious store, even more dismally dark in the clouded light. Blake was quite fond of its musty, grim charm, even if Weiss had made her objections clear. 

The plan was very simple. She and Yang were to approach the counter and ask about Atlas goods. Blake wasn’t too sure of the simplicity, considering they had no idea what they were going to ask or how to be sneaky. Yang however had seemed confident that they could ‘just wing it’.

Ruby had suggested the two of them go. They had both been in the store and could reasonably be expected to have seen the other shady figures. She had said Blake had a mysterious dark side that might help in getting the guy to trust them, and apparently Yang had experience in interrogating random thugs and would be good to have around if things went south.

Blake couldn’t help but agree that Ruby and Weiss were not ideal for subterfuge such as this. Ruby was far too awkward and Weiss far too proper. Neither would be convincing as purveyors of blackmarket goods.

‘You wanna do the talking?’ Yang’s voice stirred Blake out of her musings. She realised she had been paused, staring up at the shop’s façade.

‘I can’t. I’m far too mysterious,’ Blake replied with a twinkle in her eye. ‘Gotta maintain my enigmatic allure.’

For a moment she wondered if she had made a mistake in joking around; Yang’s full belly laugh was likely to draw attention from inside. But she felt far too pleased with herself for repairing their friendship to care much.

‘I guess I’ll do the talking, Oh Great Shadowy Mistress of the Night,’ Yang replied with a wink. Blake snorted her laughter but quickly stifled it as Yang pushed the door in, a light bell tinkling above them.

The smell of printed words rose to meet her like an old friend and she resisted the urge to run her hands over the books as she followed Yang up to the counter. The simplicity of their plan was putting her on edge, and she quickly scanned their surroundings. No customers or browsers to be seen; exactly like the previous day. The only sound was the self-assured thudding of Yang’s boots on the carpet. The same guy was sitting at the counter in the same position. Bored and restless.

‘Hey there,’ Yang announced herself, resting her left hand on the counter in his peripheral vision. Blake strode up on Yang’s right, blocking his field of vision from the rest of the store. His eyes lazily drifted from his scroll to her hand where it rested near his elbow, and then up to them, flicking between them.

‘Can I help you?’ His voice was flat and disinterested, his gaze already dropped back to his scroll.

‘Yep,’ Yang said brightly. ‘I’m looking for something.’ Blake quirked an eyebrow.  _ Is this her tactic? Force him to acknowledge us? _

The pale yellow eyes blinked and briefly returned to them before sliding away, seemingly unable or unwilling to latch his gaze on their faces. ‘We do books.’ He barely lifted his arm from the counter to gesture weakly at the store, the sheen of his white wristband visible in the lowlight.

‘That’s not all you do.’ Yang’s voice was still pleasant but weight in the room shifted. The man’s eyes flicked up, finally landing on Yang and his attention sticking; his scroll was left abandoned on the counter. He kicked his feet down, and faced them directly.

‘Oh?’ He appraised them more thoroughly this time, leaning casually forward with his palms spread wide on the counter, and he perhaps seemed larger and broader than they had first taken him for. ‘What else do we do?’

‘Information.’ Yang said firmly. Blake hid her surprise; she wasn’t sure where Yang was going with this. She carefully watched the man in front of them. He wasn’t confrontational. Not yet anyway. But he was on his guard, fingertips resting lightly on the counter, ready to move at a moment’s notice.

‘Information?’

A quiet shuffling sound caught Blake’s ears and she cursed herself as she felt her ears automatically, and conspicuously, turn towards it. The shop was not quite as empty as they thought; someone was in the back room. She glanced back at the shop assistant, internally praying he hadn’t been looking at her ears.

He hadn’t. Blake’s eyebrows rose into her hair. He had been too busy sneaking a glance at Yang’s chest.

Yang had noticed too.  _ Hard to miss when he’s right in front of her. _ She leaned forward on the counter, and Blake didn’t think her eyebrows could climb any higher.  _ Apparently this is the strategy. _

‘Yeah, what’s your name?’ Yang had taken on a noticeably coquettish tone, her new stance emphasising her bust, her orange top pulling taught.

The man’s eyes narrowed a little and Blake tensed, readying herself to reach for Gambol Shroud. Then he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, unsure how to respond. Blake peered at him closely. For all his posturing, he no longer seemed as stocky as he aimed for; his uncertainty betrayed the lean, thin frame that they had first seen.

‘Uh, Aaron.’

‘Just Aaron, huh?’ Yang asked doubtfully, a slight tease in her voice. She was very persuasive and charming when she wanted to be. While this playful, cheeky side of Yang was appealing and would win attention every time, Blake’s mind flashed to the image of rain hitting a bright, open, soulful face. She recovered her neutral expression, unsure what her role in this would be now. She idly fingered the books resting on the counter display, listening hard.

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, Aaron, I need your help.’

‘With what?’ Aaron was clearly very attracted to Yang, his eyes drinking her in and subtly leaning towards her, but unfortunately seemed to have enough brainpower to realise he still needed to be cautious of beautiful, flirtatious women.

Yang raised her mechanical arm into view, bringing it down to rest on the counter between them. ‘This.’ Aaron frowned upon seeing it, and Blake was thoroughly impressed. It hadn’t even occurred to her that they could use Yang’s Atlas-built arm as a way in. ‘I’m looking for some parts. It’s made in Atlas see, and the in-built recoil buffer is degrading. My fault,’ she added with a self-deprecating smile, ‘I took it apart and mustn’t have put it back together correctly. By the time I realised, the damaged was beyond repair. Now I need a new one.’

Aaron was very wary, having not spoken at all during Yang’s explanation, nor indicated that he had any pertinent information. His eyes darted uneasily from Yang’s arm to her face, her chest no longer pulling as much of his focus. Blake decided to jump in. ‘We saw some of your clients carrying some nice Atlas gear yesterday. You look pretty kitted out as well.’ Blake nodded towards Aaron’s wrist-reader, and he withdrew his hands from the counter, ‘We thought maybe you knew who we could talk to.’

Aaron still said nothing, waiting for them to continue. Blake and Yang had somehow silently agreed to hold until he broke and spoke first.

‘Atlas tech isn’t that uncommon. This is a bookstore,’ he finally said.

‘I guess we’ve just had some bad luck then, because we haven’t found anywhere that sells that kind of product.’ Yang shrugged. ‘ _ Some _ things have to be specially imported. You know who to talk to?’

‘Um, no,’ Aaron replied, but he seemed regretful. Yang gave a disappointed sigh and lifted herself off the counter, Aaron bit his lip in a similar disappointment. Blake could sense that Aaron was struggling with his loyalty, and seemed unwilling to jeopardise it for a pretty girl. She stepped forward, willing to be the face of business.

‘How much would it take to find out?’ She said firmly. Aaron’s eyes narrowed.

‘What do you mean?’

Blake crossed her arms, challenging expression on her face. ‘We know you have access to what we want, and we know you have the contacts we’re looking for. There’s a pretty suspicious box in the backroom.’ She was really hoping the confidence would shine through, because she wasn’t too sure where she was going with this. Thankfully, Yang stepped in as backup.

‘We can either pay you to find out what we want to know.’ Yang’s gauntlet unsheathed with a threatening metallic slide and click. ‘Or we can take a look around.’ Blake prayed they weren’t pushing someone they shouldn’t; her muscles grew tense as the stood on the precipice of a conflict.

Aaron’s eyes flicked to the backroom and then landed on the gauntlet. His expression was decidedly less friendly than before. He opened his mouth as though to speak, thought the better of it, and then changed his mind a third time.

‘It’s unwise to go meddling with Messing’s stuff,’ he said, glaring haughtily at them.

‘Oh?’ Yang cocked an eyebrow, ‘Why’s that?’

Aaron tilted his head, sizing her up. ‘Because he’ll kill you.’ He crossed his arms. ‘You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last. Those gangers, those damn bandits. You’ll all keep dying.’

‘Yeah, we’ve heard that one before.’ Blake replied darkly, beginning to turn away. They had pushed him far enough and she didn’t actually want to start a fight, even if they outnumbered him.

‘Messing, huh?’ Yang repeated, a little grin on her face. He glowered in response. ‘Thanks.’ She winked at him and sauntered away. Blake took one last look at his face, smothered in cold anger. She felt a slight shiver and walked out behind Yang. At least they had a name.

-

Sparks glinted off the floor as the heavy metal door was pushed open from the inside. A tall, broad-shouldered man stepped forward out of the shadows, his long thin coat hanging loosely off his large frame.

‘Who were they, Ockside?’ He asked, staring at the door where the two young women had just exited. His younger companion looked back at him.

‘Some nosy kids. They seem pretty insistent.’ Aaron moved past him into the backroom.

‘Hmmm,’ he muttered, scratching at his thick brown beard. ‘Can’t have that.’

-

‘Messing.’ Qrow murmured broodily into his black coffee.

The whole gang had returned to their inn in the evening for a group dinner. Their empty plates were unevenly stacked around the table as the waitstaff slowly got around to clean up after the dinner rush.

‘Yeah, that’s what he said,’ Yang confirmed. Qrow nodded slowly.

‘I’ve got that name on my list too. Haven’t been able to check it out yet though. No leads.’ He took a sip from his drink.

‘We haven’t turned up anything,’ Jaune chimed in regretfully. Oscar nodded beside him.

‘It seems we can rule out the junkyard for any information,’ Nora agreed.

‘Messing sounds dangerous,’ Blake said quietly, gazing into thin air. ‘The guy at bookstore seemed dead serious when he said Messing would come after us.’

Yang swung back on her chair, watching Blake thoughtfully. ‘You know what he also said? That the gangs had given them trouble too.’ She turned to Qrow. ‘Didn’t your informant say that a gang who hung around the Southpass had gone missing recently?’

Qrow nodded slowly, catching her drift.

‘You think that gang are those people we found the other day?’ Ruby asked between spoonfuls of ice cream.

Qrow had pulled his scroll out and was sifting through the entries. ‘Hmm, Downroad gang. Hung around Southpass. Supposedly got involved in something too big. They’ve gone missing.’

‘That sounds a lot like what we found,’ Weiss said hesitantly. ‘So, this group led by Messing killed them all for stepping on some toes?’

Qrow placed his scroll on the table and tapped his fingers rhythmically. ‘Messing’s our in to Atlas. Doesn’t seem too keen to help out though. We also don’t know where to find him.’

‘Yeahhhh…’ Yang replied, staring at the pile of plates on the table. They all turned to her.

‘You know where they are, firecracker?’ Yang glanced up and held his gaze.

‘Maybe.’

-

The rough grit of the concrete slab dug into the soft skin of her palm. Yang shifted her weight to lean both arms against the rooftop barricade and stared out across Windpath. She had been bummed out to realise that their inn had a slanted, tiled roof; highly inconvenient to her evening head-clearings.

This building was the nearest compromise, the top of a grocery-apartment combo, a few buildings down across the street and a quick, quiet climb up the fire escape. Not quite close enough to the centre of the city’s sloping spiral to overlook either the cliff or the sea, but high enough on the hill to overlook the lower districts. Yellowed beacons glimmered across the streets, aging Windpath with their pre-holo lamp technology. The Vale of her childhood had glowed in a similar hue.

The sky grew deeper, an open canvas painted by the rumblings of the slow public tram bearings grinding along their tracks. An occasional burst of anger and a yell blasted through the night as the districts below her grew new shadows, skulking past the town’s professional blind-eyes. If Yang closed her eyes, she could picture lien sliding into clammy palms, boots scuffing away against smooth cobbles. Shoulders colliding in youthful, misguided aggression. Tempers turning to threats. But for once, the underworld stayed beneath her – unable to touch her in her open-air vantage point. Everything around her was drowningly still in the inky dark sky.

The slightly grainy surface scraped at her remaining elbow. Yang wondered if it was worth swinging her legs over and sitting on the edge. The others were likely to come looking for her soon, for team RWBY’s bonding night. A trip to the arcade Ruby had spotted, or a simple cup of coffee, as Weiss so eagerly begged for.

She, however, had needed the solitude of her new spot for a while, an almost nightly routine that she had felt an itch for since Haven. She blew her fringe off her face to feel it whisper back down across her forehead and experimentally rubbed her mechanical fingers across the solid block edge that she leant against. Nothing, of course. The absence of nerve-endings was still off-putting.  _ Unnerving, even. _ She snorted to herself.

_ Messing. _ Yang bit her lip. He would want them dead if he thought they were meddling. They were going to tangle with a yet another enemy - as though they didn’t have enough - all for the purpose of trying to defeat the first enemy.  _ Somehow. _

Their plans for the next couple of days were clear, but Yang couldn’t see beyond that. Just a fog, and the hint of something sinister just ahead. Once, she would have longed for the unknown, to throw herself into mystery and rely on her reflexes.  _ But now… _ She was scratching at the metal before it occurred to her that it couldn’t possibly itch.

She paused.  _ One breath in. _ The muffled conversations below her drifted past her face, lost to her ears as a slight wind whistled.  _ One breath out. _ She dug her elbow into minute peaks of eroded concrete, the ghost itch pulling at her attention.  _ One breath in. _ A metallic taste on her tongue, and the itch had moved to the back of her throat. She reflexively swallowed to pull the ringing from her ears, as she felt the hairs raise on the back of her neck. Her shoulders tensed as they recognised danger before her conscious mind did.

She heard a swirling, whispering glimmer. The air parted.

And there she stood. Burning red against the depths of the night, the churning crimson pulse fading away behind her. Yang had turned without fully processing the action, standing face-to-face

As the portal dissipated, her bright red tones grew near indistinguishable from the black of the sky. The paleness of her face caught just enough residual light that emanated from the yellow lamps below. Yang felt the air shudder as it passed between her lips, breathing exercises forgotten, and phantom itch dissipated. At the back of her mind, she felt a niggling concern that her shoulders would lock if she held them any tighter.

Crimson eyes bored into her. Yang forced herself to stare back, feeling the twist that would soon turn anxiety to aggression.

A head tilt. Yang felt herself being appraised. The figure leant back, rested on the concrete edge, and crossed her arms. She stood on the opposite side of the roof, but Yang was only just realising how small the platform was.

‘So you are following me then,’ Yang said flatly, none of the quavering that ran through her mind penetrating her voice. She felt a small surge of pride in herself.

The head tilted back. ‘Does it count as following if I can be where you are at any times?’ Yang’s heart leapt; somehow she hadn’t expected her to talk back, like an illusory phantom. Her mother’s gaze pierced her.

‘Why are you here? I can get Qrow, he’s not far.’

‘Why would you?’ Came the simple reply.

‘I…’ Yang couldn’t formulate a response. Her mother had never tried to hurt her. Yang didn’t have the relic. ‘Why are you here?’ She said again, more forcefully.

One of her mother’s arms uncrossed from her chest and her hand gently drifted down to rest on the hilt of her sword, pale fingertips just visible in the dim light. Yang’s eyes narrowed as she watched the action, but Raven’s mind seemed elsewhere. The gesture was habitual.

‘Do I need a reason?’ Her voice was a warm gravel, not as deep as Qrow’s but still a slight rough edge. It had become so familiar so quickly, and yet Yang still yearned to hear it more.

‘Yes,’ she replied bluntly, the twist in her gut tightening, hot.

‘You don’t have a good reason for being here.’ The eyes continued to watch, relentless, barely blinking, the hints of a cocky smirk emerging. ‘Why are  _ you _ here?’

Yang clenched her fists by her side, gritting her teeth. ‘You should know why I’m here. You’re always watching, right?’

Raven smiled, bitterness overflowing from her eyes. ‘Of course. I know why better than you do.’

Yang stalled, feeling a light sweat catch the breeze on her neck.

‘Do you know why you’re going to Atlas?’ Yang refused to break eye contact but said nothing. Raven’s inclined her head as she regarded Yang’s silence. ‘Then why go?’

Yang felt the churning sensation in her gut start to squeeze, the anxious energy burning and twisting. Heat flooded her body as she watched the shape of her mother stand, unaffected and arrogant opposite her. ‘You,’ she began, forcing the words out, ‘Don’t get to patronise me. You don’t get to come and go like this.’ Her hands shook, one set of fingers digging into her palm. ‘You don’t get to leave for years, one stupid whisk of your sword away from just being there. And then use it to suddenly be  _ here _ .’

Through the haze of her growing anger, Yang barely registered that her mother’s face expression had changed, almost imperceptibly. The knowing glint in her eye was replaced with a carefully cultivated neutrality and cool calculation. Yang could tell that Raven was measuring her, assessing. She was queueing up her next action, looking more to the next few moves than focusing on the present. It pulsed the heat into Yang’s fists, her face flushing.

‘Why are you just standing there?’ Her volume began to tremble, rising beyond her control. ‘Did you show up just to stare at me? Ran away again and now you’re here to just mock me?’ Yang could hear her steel hand grinding against itself as she clenched, the burning in her stomach tightened into a raging hot core that emitted throbs of heat around her body, nerve endings scorching as her skin grew taught, buzzing with blazing energy. Every muscle a livewire of uncoiled spring ready to snap.

Sorrow. The coolness had melted away from those eyes, contrasting smug heat long since evaporated as well. ‘Figures that you would look most like me when you’re angry.’

For a brief heartbeat, Yang saw an unrefined and uncultivated emotion stare back at her. A sort of sincerity, written in red eyes. The creaking of weighted rusty metal distantly tugged at her awareness. She felt her lips part, confusion on her breath, as she began to pull forward – her coiling energy propelling her body into action; to an end her mind hadn’t yet foreseen.

And yet with a flash and a flutter and the night was suddenly empty and black around her again; Yang’s footing gave way, knee hitting the ground hard as her spring snapped towards a destination that had disappeared. Her hands braced themselves heavily against the rough surface, her head bowed towards the ground, hunched like a wounded animal. The heat inside her had burst and was now running heavily between eyelids squeezed shut, hot tears forcing their way down into the natural flow of gravity.

She could barely hear a concerned voice repeating her name, hand gripping her shoulder as her chest shook in an unregulated tempo.

_ She left again. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! I'm always accepting constructive criticism and this chapter felt a bit different to the others.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy!
> 
> Sorry this is another short one, but the next one is going to be super long, possibly double length is I can find a good place to break it up. Anyways, I had to cut this one off short.  
> Un-beta'd once again, please point out my mistakes in the comments!
> 
> And thank you all for your super lovely comments on all the previous chapters. We're past halfway on this story!

‘Yang? Yang are you okay?’

‘That was  _ Raven _ .’

‘What do we do? Why was she here?’

‘Did she hurt you, Yang?’

The tightness in Blake’s chest squeezed painfully as she watched Yang kneeling, her eyes quickly searching for any sign of injury. She could feel a slight quivering in Yang’s shoulder where she gripped it tightly.

Ruby had dropped to her knees beside Yang, her voice uncertain. ‘Yang, please.’ Weiss was hovering anxiously behind her, constantly glancing around them, as though Raven was going to return at any second. Blake could see her knuckles whitening as they gripped Myrtenaster’s hilt.

She looked back to Yang, her masses of blonde hair concealing her face. Blake tightened her hold on Yang’s shoulder and reached around under her waist. Blake pulled and rotated the surprisingly limp form, until Yang was propped up against her, face pressed to Blake’s neck. She felt her skin grow damp and realised that Yang was quietly crying. Blake wrapped one arm more firmly around Yang’s back and used the other to soothingly stroke through her hair, now tangled with bits of concrete dust. She was gratified to feel Yang’s arms wrap around her in return with a surprisingly firm grip.

Weiss had now dropped beside them as well, finally convinced Raven was gone. Ruby had reached out and was holding Yang’s knee where it lay curled against Blake’s. Blake could feel her legs begin to ache, her knees taking the weight of two people now, but she held herself up, continuing her ministrations. ‘Yang, it’s okay. She’s gone.’

She could feel muffled words pressed against the skin of her neck, squeezed out between shaky breaths. She held still, trying to make out the words.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’

‘Yang?’ Ruby asked hesitantly. ‘What are you sorry about? Everything’s okay.’

She hid herself more deeply into Blake’s hair. ‘Yang?’ Blake prompted again.

Weiss shuffled forward to place her hand on Yang’s back. ‘Yang, whatever it is, we promise it’s okay.’ She glanced up at the others. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong, but we’re here.’

Blake cradled Yang’s head against her, repositioning herself to sit with Yang for a while. ‘Take your time.’ She pressed a kiss into the soft blonde hair and held on tightly. Yang seemed stuck in her head, somehow not fully aware of what they were saying. Blake looked up at the others. Concern was etched across her teammates’ faces, but she did her best to convey that all they could do is wait.

‘She doesn’t seem hurt,’ Weiss said, trying to find something positive to reassure them all. A gust of wind blew past them forcefully. 

‘She just needs a minute,’ Blake replied, though not entirely sure herself. She ran a hand along Yang’s shoulder to stave off the chill of the breeze.

They sat for a long while, the residual daylight having long since disappeared beyond the horizon. The moon gave them the barest hint of light; the streetlights unable reach them where they sat. Blake knew she could see better than the others and kept her eyes on the sky. Just in case.

She had never seen Raven before. She had barely seen her this time. Just an image of black and red mirroring brown and yellow. The long, thick, dark hair had been so like Yang’s, and Blake frowned at the similarities. Over the last few weeks, Blake had watched Yang go through the emotional throes of coming to terms with her mother’s character. She couldn’t imagine how coming face to face with her again, as enemies, would feel. She halted her train of thought and bit her lip. Maybe she could imagine.

‘Yang?’ Ruby began slowly and quietly. ‘Can you talk to us? Are you okay?’ Blake felt Yang’s head nod against her collarbone. ‘What happened?’

Blake felt a gentle hum against her neck as Yang summoned her voice from beneath the loose tears. ‘She was here.’

‘Yes, we saw her,’ Weiss responded, though not unkindly. ‘Why?’

‘I don’t know.’ Yang had yet to lift herself up. Blake continued to run her fingers along her shoulders.

‘Did she say anything? We thought we heard you yelling.’ Ruby moved closer to keep her hand more fully on her sister.

Yang’s eyes closed as she yet out a long shaky breath. ‘It was all cryptic. She frustrated me.’

Blake caught the other’s eyes. Frustrated was an odd choice of word.

‘Did she try and hurt you?’ Blake asked softly. ‘Did she try and find out where the relic is?’

Tears sprang from Yang’s eyes again, and her hands bunched into Blake’s jacket. And Blake’s heart dropped and she immediately began searching for injuries again. 

‘We won’t let her get away with this,’ Weiss exclaimed furiously. ‘She can’t-‘ Weiss abruptly stopped her threats as Yang had begun her mantra again.

‘I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry.’

‘Yang.’ Blake squeezed her closer. ‘What’s your fault? Why are you sorry?’

‘You don’t have to be sorry for what she’s done to you,’ Ruby said firmly, but Yang shook her head aggressively.

‘I lied. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know how to-’ Yang cut herself off by trying to pull away from Blake. Blake loosened her grip, but refused to drop contact entirely, keeping her hand against her back. Yang brought her gritty knees up and pressed her face into them.

Ruby and Weiss seemed as confused and stunned as Blake felt. ‘Yang? What do you mean? Please, just let us help you,’ Ruby began. ‘I hate seeing you so upset like this.’

Yang took a moment to even her breathing and relax, nodding in acknowledgement of Ruby’s question. ‘She didn’t try to hurt me.’ Blake felt her shoulders drop in relief. ‘And I lied back at Haven.’

‘You... lied?’ Weiss drew the word out uncertainly. ‘About what?’

Yang looked up at them, her red-rimmed violet eyes just barely peeking above her knees, seemingly afraid of the backlash. ‘When I said she was gone.’

Blake’s brow furrowed and she looked at the other two. She had a suspicion she hadn’t been present for this conversation.

‘Gone?’ Ruby seemed confused as well.

‘In the vault,’ Weiss said in realisation. Yang’s eyes flicked over to her, arms wrapped tightly around her knees. ‘You said that when you got down there that Cinder had vanished, Vernal was dead and Raven was gone, right?’ Yang nodded miserably. ‘That was a lie?’

‘Sort of.’ Yang cleared her throat, and her voice came out more clearly. ‘My mom… she  _ was _ gone when I said it. But she was down there when I jumped.’

Blake bit her lip.  _ Raven was there? Raven was there when Yang took the relic? Did they talk? Did they fight?  _

‘Will you… will you tell us what actually happened?’ Ruby asked hesitantly.

Yang sighed and dropped her legs from her face and crossed them. She rested her hands on her knees. ‘Yeah.’

-

Qrow dodged around alley fight as the last punches were being thrown, and stepped carefully around the trickle of blood that was seeping into the cracks between stones, running like Windpath’s veins in the pulsing nightlife of the city. He walked the quickest and most direct path to his destination, uninterested in garnering the attention of the rabble around him.

He pushed past an overflowing, clinging grass that grew down across the surface of the alley walls from a windowsill above, making an abrupt right turn when he found the main road intersection. Qrow glanced around the open shopping strip, stores almost all closed. He hadn’t had a chance to set up another meeting with Kaiyō, but in his early reconnaissance one of the loose-tongued beat-cops had mentioned that sometimes the upper echelons of the force hung around a coffee cart at the lower oceanside roads after dark.

He was hoping that Kaiyō would be one such customer, and on the late shift. He caught sight of a small tatty banner with a mug-like logo, and made a beeline for it. There were a few gruff sailors and tradesmen with unbuttoned collared shirts and blindingly bright safety vests hovering around the cart. He received a dirty glare from the patrons around him as he made his way to the front.

A small, grumpy faunus girl stood by the cart, struggling to stack the disposable cups. She scratched at her long fluffy ears with a pale hand and gave the cups another shove into the nook behind the small fridge unit.

‘Hey,’ Qrow said abruptly, eliciting a scowl. ‘Any officers hang around here?’

‘Nope.’ She popped her ‘p’ aggressively; hands moving to her hips. ‘You gonna order something?’ Qrow raised an eyebrow at the level of attitude that someone her size could muster.

‘Nope.’ He turned away and was immediately met with the sight of a similar cart, several buildings further down the street. This time surrounded by broad, white shoulders.

Qrow slowed his pace. This must be the place, and she was either there or not; no point in hurrying. As he drew closer, the guffaws of laughter pealed across the street, shortly followed by hollow clapping sounds as the cops seemed to congratulate each other on the joke by raucously slapping each others’ pauldrons. The dim light illuminated the group with a sort of unearthly glow around their shoulders.

He stalked around them at a distance, trying to catch a glimpse of Kaiyō. Someone staggered out of an alley next to him, tripping on the uneven surface and throwing up the contents of their stomach in a foul, greenish mess, sinking to the ground uneasily. One of the officers broke away from the group. ‘Hey! You! What are you on?’

‘Uhh.’ The long-haired figure spat out more of the liquid. ‘Topaz’s mix.’

‘Nah, Topaz doesn’t deal down here. Try again.’

Qrow took the distraction as an opportunity to slide in among the officers towards the cart. He found Kaiyō leaning on the small counter, chatting to one of her colleagues.

‘Kaiyō.’ Qrow said by way of greeting. She looked up at him and put her cup down on the cart’s edge.

‘Hmm. You. What do you want?’

‘I want to talk.’ He glanced at the other guy beside them, who was eyeing him up in an eager suspicion. ‘Got some more questions.’

Kaiyō shrugged and made to follow him out of the crowd. ‘You got money?’ He nodded in response, moving to be out of earshot of the group. He saw the junkie and officer part ways, the latter sliding something into his pocket. Lien made the world go around a little bit easier for someone like Qrow, but it certainly made it go around dirtier.

‘So, what do you want to know?’ Kaiyō prompted, leaning up against the hip-high fieldstone wall that bordered an elevated park area. Qrow adopted a similar stance, resting his elbow against the grass.

‘Hav Messing.’ She squinted at him, trying to make a quick analysis of the situation.

‘What about him?’ Her hands had come to rest on her hips.

‘I want to find him. Talk to him.’ Kaiyō stared him down, despite being at least a full head shorter when they were standing.

‘And I’d like to know the name of someone who wants to go messing around with Messing.’ She retorted. ‘Anyone who has business that needs to go directly to the top of that organisation is the sort of person I want to know about.’

Qrow glowered. ‘Fine. Qrow.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Qrow who? Qrow-I-need-Kaiyō’s-help?’

‘Branwen,’ he said through gritted teeth, already anticipating the repercussions. 

Her second eyebrow joined the first, but she didn’t comment further. ‘I might be able to help you, Qrow Branwen.’

-

Yang was sitting upright on her bed at the far end of the room. Weiss was trying to keep an eye on her while she brushed out the tangles from her ponytail. She watched Yang wrap her arms around her legs again and stare at the end of the bed somberly. Ruby was returning from the bathroom and Blake was getting changed, each shooting glances towards Yang, unsure how to process the conversation they had just had on the rooftop.

Weiss didn’t really know what to make of the revelation that Yang’s mom was the Spring Maiden. If her own encounters with the woman were anything to go by, Weiss could understand why Yang was so conflicted. First kidnapped and held ransom, but then offered tea and a chat. Raven had whisked her away back to her team and friends, but then shown up out of the blue alongside their enemy. It had been sitting fifty-fifty from Weiss’ perspective.

Except, now she hadn’t ever joined the enemy at all.

‘We wouldn’t have survived without her.’ Weiss thought out loud, her hand paused mid-brush stroke. She felt eyes on her. ‘At Haven. Lionheart was never on our side. If she hadn’t been there to match Cinder, we would have lost.’

Ruby chewed her lip. ‘That’s true…’ There was a clear ‘but’ coming up, but the anxious looks she sent Yang hinted that she didn’t want to upset her further.

‘Just say it,’ Yang said with a weary sigh.

‘Well… I.’ Ruby paused to gather her thoughts. ‘She had Vernal fight you, Weiss. She knocked your aura all the way down. And then Cinder…’

‘Yes,’ Weiss responded, not needing to hear the end of Ruby’s sentence. ‘But that was Cinder. Maybe Raven didn’t intend for any of us to get hurt?’

‘Except she sort of lured you all there to be a distraction,’ Blake added reluctantly, taking a seat beside Yang. 

Ruby tentatively sat down. ‘I mean it  _ was _ a battle. It’s not like we haven’t deliberately gotten involved in them before, and if we’d found out that Cinder was going to be attacking that night we would have gone anyway.’ She sighed and ran a hand through the stray tendrils of hair hanging over her face. ‘But it still sucks that she put us in danger to use us.’

‘She let us take the relic though,’ Blake reminded them. ‘Even though she intended to take it herself.’

‘But she did it to protect herself,’ Weiss countered, again finding herself hovering on the fence. She tugged out the last of the knots and put down the brush.

‘Well, we don’t have to make excuses for her,’ Yang said weakly. ‘Especially not on my account.’ Weiss felt a pull on her heart seeing how defeated Yang was.

‘I think we just need to understand,’ Ruby said, sounding tired as well, as she paced back and forth across the room. ‘She’s not after the relic anymore, and she’s not on Salem’s side. That doesn’t explain why she was there on the rooftop.’

Yang shook her head and hung it low. Blake gently squeezed her arm and stood up, moving over to the small kettle and busying herself with tea.

‘And you don’t want to tell your uncle?’ Weiss asked hesitantly, moving over to the bed beside Yang.

‘I don’t know what to think anymore. I thought she wanted to stay out of it all, which is why she gave me the relic.’ Yang raised her head, picking at her pyjama pants. She took a long, weary breath. ‘She doesn’t trust Ozpin. At all.’ Weiss nodded, remembering a hazy conversation in a tent among tea steam. ‘I figured if she was going to let me have the relic, then the least I could do is keep her out of this. She wouldn’t have wanted Ozpin, or Qrow, to know about her abilities.’

Blake approached with two mugs carefully grasped in each hand, and Weiss was grateful to have something to do with her hands, even if free hotel tea was never of any notable quality.

‘It makes sense to want to protect her,’ Blake said softly, passing Yang a cup.

‘I think it’s just some stupid self-justification,’ Yang replied miserably. ‘I… I don’t know who to trust anymore.’ She stared down into her cup. ‘Everything is so messed up, and a lot of the stuff she says makes sense. They  _ are _ keeping things from us. She said as much just now.’

‘I agree,’ Ruby said firmly, and Yang looked up, startled. ‘I don’t like how little we know about what we’re doing. But Uncle Qrow?’ Ruby’s voice was imploring, ‘You don’t trust him either?’

Yang was unable to hold Ruby’s gaze. ‘I don’t know.’ Ruby barely suppressed a gasp, her wide eyes grown sad. ‘I mean, I  _ do _ trust him. But I think he trusts Ozpin.’

They all sat, lost in their thoughts, each unsure what to say to the others. Weiss took a sip of her tea. The thick brim of the inn’s stoneware mug was unpleasantly bulky against her lips, but the warmth was soothing.

Yang put her mug down on the bedside table and sat upright, turning to face them. They all looked back expectantly.

‘I don’t know what to think about any of this,’ she began, ‘But I trust you all, and I trust your judgement. I know I kept this a secret, and I had my reasons, but I’m open to whatever team RWBY thinks is best.’ Yang nervously fidgeted. ‘And… I’m sorry. For lying this whole time. I didn’t know what to do.’

Ruby reached out and took Yang’s hands across the gap between beds. ‘Thank you for telling us in the end.’ She looked between Blake and Weiss. ‘Maybe we take a few days to think about it. From what Yang’s told us, Raven doesn’t seem to pose any immediate problem with the relic, so we should be okay to focus on our current mission and talk about this after. Everyone agree?’

‘I think that’s a good idea,’ Blake said.

Weiss nodded and reached for Yang’s hand too, although it was her cool, metallic one. ‘Thank you for coming to your team with this,’ she said with a smile and was heartened when Yang smiled back.

Ruby let go of Yang’s hand and picked up her mug again, scooting back onto the bed. ‘I know this is hard for you, Yang. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I saw you growing up with this hanging over you.’ Weiss watched Ruby bite her lip. ‘I promise that when we make a decision, we will work out what’s best for you and for the mission.’

Yang’s eyes were misty, but Weiss was relieved to recognise them as gratitude, and possibly a release from her nervous tension. Blake offered up her pyjama sleeve, and Yang let out a watery laugh. Blake seemed pleased with herself, ears perking up for the first time this evening.

Yang released her mechanical arm, catching it deftly with her left hand and placed it down on the nightstand, retrieving her tea. Weiss watched her smile grow bittersweet as she took a sip from her cup.

‘I don’t want her to be the bad guy,’ Yang admitted very quietly, only just audible in the silent room. ‘I know she’s done a lot of bad things, but I don’t know. Deep down, I want there to be a good reason for all of it.’

‘We know.’ Blake said, wrapping her free arm around Yang’s waist. ‘We hope so too.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think, good and bad! I like hearing your opinions.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!  
> I found a good place to break up the chapter so it isn't appallingly long. Hopefully you enjoy it!  
> Thanks for lovely comments left on the last chapters, I really appreciate it.  
> Un-beta'd.

The silence was broken by the sudden piercing shriek of an owl echoing through the dark; a haunting accompaniment to the twisting mist that drifted in amongst the tall, silver birch trunks. Ruby ran her finger along the smooth surface of one of the cartridges along her belt, habitually counting the casings. She was lying low among the jagged moss-coated stones and damp leafy detriment; Blake just a few feet away to her left, watching the narrow road that ran along the base of their hilly outlook.

She didn’t like it here. The trees were too narrow and sparse to provide any real cover, and she and Blake were only hidden by the grace of their elevated position.  _ I can barely see anything, so hopefully they can’t see me. _ She glanced across to Blake who was very keenly looking out at their surroundings in the deep black.  _ Then again, maybe everyone here is a faunus. _

The uneven ground dug into her stomach and arms as she tried to keep herself propped up, waiting. They were a couple of kilometres out of Windpath’s north entry and found an ideal vantage point on a small, but clearly well-travelled road. Yang and Weiss had gone on to scout ahead and see if they could find anything, leaving Ruby and Blake to stay back and watch for anyone approaching. Ruby felt nervous thinking about Yang and Weiss out in the open, and her ears stayed strained, listening for any hints of combat. The bookstore attendant’s words flicked in and out of her mind unbidden.

They had chosen as clear a night as any to pursue Yang’s lead: an incidental clue provided by Car Otenoi when she had mentioned the route frequented by her extorting drivers. Ruby had been pleasantly surprised, even upbeat, when Yang had remembered that they may be a large operation stationed to the north of the city, but was experiencing the heebie-jeebies. The owl screeched again, with an almost pained and far too human sound, and Ruby shivered.

It had been as good a place as any to start looking for Messing, though the dire expression on Qrow’s face had told them that they needed to be careful. They had spent a full day preparing themselves and trying to gather information around the town, but had been unsurprisingly unsuccessful. Team JNPR and Oscar had agreed to stay back and investigate further, while keeping the relic out of potential enemy territory.  _ Besides,  _ Ruby thought to herself,  _ this is a stealth recon mission. Much harder with eight people. _

A split second of static crackle filled the air and died just as quickly. Ruby lifted the cheap junkyard radio that Nora had proudly found to her face, holding down the transmit button and releasing. She made eye contact with Blake, whose ears were still flicking around, alert to their surroundings. They both held their breath, waiting for the response. Before splitting off, RWBY had agreed on a code for using their walkie-talkies: a quick burst of transmission to indicate to the receiver that you had a message and an equally quick response to say they were available. The hope was that short bursts would be masked by the rustling of nature if the recipient needed to stay hidden, and the short response would similarly protect the sender in the event of accidental transmission.

The radio crackled into life again and Yang’s quiet voice emerged into the forest. ‘We’ve seen some headlights further up the road and it looks like a lot of feet have passed through here. We think we might be close to a group of people. Have you seen anything?’

‘Nothing here,’ Ruby responded. ‘We’re going to head up to you.’ Blake nodded in agreement and quietly got up.

‘Stay to the left of the road you’re on. The trees get denser out here, so we’ll keep an eye out for you.’

‘Got it.’ Ruby clipped the radio back onto her belt and got up as well.

‘There’s no one around,’ Blake confirmed before Ruby could verbalise the question on her lips.

‘Okay let’s go then.’

They jogged their way across the rocky ground, making sure to keep their distance from the road. Ruby watched Blake flit between the slender tree trunks, like a silent shadow, her white coat catching hints of moonlight as silver as the birches. They had been on the move for ten minutes when they both heard the distant purr of an engine and crunching gravel on the road behind them.

‘Get down!’ Ruby whispered unnecessarily, Blake already dropping to the base of two trunks grown close together. Ruby tried to lay as flat as possible among the rocky ground, the damp moss seeping into her sleeves, undoubtedly leaving grass stains that would make Weiss sigh. She looked up and caught beams of light bouncing among the trunks, drawing long, grey shadows across the illuminated trunks; light and dark criss-crossing across their surroundings as the vehicle moved past. She heard pebbles spit up around the sides of the wheels, spraying out off the road. Ruby flicked the button on the radio and heard the short static response.

‘There’s a van coming up the road. Didn’t see us.’

White noise crackled through, transforming into a voice. ‘We’ll follow it for a while. The road forks up here so if we can work out which way to go, we should have an easier time of finding their base.’

‘Don’t do anything risky,’ Ruby murmured into the perforated surface that she assumed was the microphone.

‘We won’t.’ She heard her sister reply, and the line cut out.

Ruby looked back to Blake for confirmation again. ‘Anything?’ Blake shook her head. ‘Okay, let’s catch up in case they run into trouble.’

-

Yang saw Weiss’ long, slender finger point ahead. ‘There are the headlights.’

Yang darted after her, pushing through the low hanging branches sprouting silver needles that caught on her jacket. Weiss kept low, Myrtenaster already drawn. Yang paused in the undergrowth, listening carefully as the revving of an engine slid by them, pulling the source of light with it.

‘Come on,’ Weiss hissed, ‘or we’ll lose it.’ She dashed forwards through the trees, ducking under slim, grey bark that Yang had to push out of the way to keep up. She was very aware that they were likely making a lot of noise, but she had yet to see any signs of life.

Weiss suddenly lurched forwards clumsily ahead of her, and Yang threw her arm out to catch the back of Weiss’ sleeve, moving in to fully halt her fall and counterbalance her weight. She saw the thick root and abrupt shallow precipice over the road in front of them that had caused Weiss to lose her footing.

‘Thanks,’ Weiss murmured under her breath, before pointing at the flickering of bright white lights over to their right, coming from the other fork.

Yang released her and squinted into the darkness down the road they were next to. There didn’t appear to be anything unusual out in that section of the forest.

‘Damn.’ She heard Weiss curse under her breath. ‘Of course it was the other way.’

‘At least we know which way we’re heading now. Assuming it was one of their cars.’ Yang replied absently, taking stock of their new surroundings for her next check in with Ruby.

‘Yes, but going  _ that _ way from here,’ Weiss pointed off to the right, ‘means that whatever is  _ this _ way,’ her finger turned to follow the road beside them that headed off to the left, ‘is on our back.’

‘And if it’s bandits as well, we’ll be surrounded,’ Yang replied as she realised what Weiss was implying. They made eye contact, trying to determine what to do. ‘Well, the main roadway out of town was ages back. Anyone coming up either of these roads isn’t heading to one of the nearby villages so we can probably assume there’s something suspicious on both these roads.’

Weiss bit her lip. ‘But we should stick to the path that we  _ know _ has activity and follow that car, right?’

Yang grabbed the radio and sent the first signal through, making hesitant eye contact with Weiss. She received an uncertain shrug in response. The static signal was returned, and Yang lifted the receiver to her mouth, holding down the transmit button. ‘The van took the right fork; we’re going to follow it from the left side of the road. Watch your back.’

-

Twenty minutes had gone by before Ruby and Blake finally caught up to Yang and Weiss. They had managed to slip through the trees without passing any other signs of life, which was good when it came to bandits, and, as Blake had pointed out, odd for wildlife. Ruby could still hear shuffling and rustling among the leaves around them; the wind whistling softly.

Ruby was uneasy in this new area of the forest. The depths of the trees provided decent coverage but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was bothering her until they caught up to the others. Weiss had drawn their attention with a low hiss, a white ghostly figure just barely catching the light of the moon, and gestured to the sturdy grey trunk of a nearby tree. ‘Look.’

Ruby peered closer in the darkness and saw long-since singed crevice in the surface of the bark. ‘Some kind of gunfire,’ she said softly.

‘Some kind of  _ laser _ gunfire,’ Yang agreed, reaching out to place a hand on Blake’s shoulder in greeting. Ruby bit her lip and flicked Crescent Rose out to unfold partway, using the scope to investigate their surroundings.

‘You guys find anything else?’ She heard Blake ask. Ruby could only see more trees from where she stood, but occasionally saw similar burn marks and damage to the environment between the rustling branches.

‘More of the same mostly. No sign of the operation, but we must be close right?’ Weiss responded as Ruby slowly lowered her weapon, reaching out to feel the split in the bark. ‘This doesn’t look like target practise either.’

‘What do you want to do, Ruby?’ Yang asked, breaking Ruby out of her musing. ‘Weiss and I followed the van, but we think it’s possible there’s more activity over that way’ she said, pointing west. ‘We could be surrounded if we’re detected.’

Ruby turned to face her team, struggling to see them in the dark. Their figures were slightly obscured as the night grew darker. ‘Well, I-‘ She cut herself off.  _ Wait. _

At the back of her mind, she vaguely heard Weiss’ confused voice, emerging from the darkness at the centre of her vision.  _ No, it’s not darker. _ She felt the shift in Crescent Rose’s weight as it fully extended, the satisfying clicks of its solid components sliding into place, muscle memory meeting instinct as Ruby turned to her left. Where the light at the edge of her vision burned brightest.

The burning red eyes were the first and only thing she saw as she began her swing, lunging forward. A sudden pulse of light illuminated the full bear-like figure, and shone back into the forest, bathing row after row of trees in a bright silver as it travelled. She watched her scythe glide elegantly into her field of vision, its blade looking more like the waxing moon than ever before as it reflected the light and gleamed a brilliant white. The scythe slipped through the grimm; both faded into the darkness as the light dimmed and disappeared. She absently realised there was far less resistance than usual as her weapon came down; the black, ashy texture of the creature already lost to the wind. Her foot landed solidly on the ground, her fluid momentum coming to a halt. Ruby blinked.

She could hear a sharp intake of breath. The pain behind her eyes bloomed like a drop of dye in water, extending up in jagged lines to her temple. Her knees wobbled at the sudden sensory overload, but she held herself upright. A hand was on her forearm in an instant.

‘Ruby?’ She turned to the sound of Yang’s anxious voice, trying to stay quiet but quivering.

‘Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,’ Ruby said quickly, feeling the ache tickle at the inside of skull, feather-light caresses that quickly subsided.  _ Huh. _

‘I’ve never…’ Blake murmured quietly, both awed and nervous, ‘Never seen it actually happen.’

‘I didn’t even hear it approach,’ Weiss said as she reached out to Ruby. ‘You…?’

Ruby sheathed Crescent Rose, standing as tall as she could to reassure her team that she was fine. ‘Felt it? No.’ She frowned, trying to recall. ‘I saw the light.’ Squinting at the expression on their faces, she could tell that they didn’t know what she was talking about. Ruby was at a loss to explain something she didn’t fully understand herself.

A barking voice rang out. ‘It came from this way!’

The call broke through the forest’s quiet, freezing them in their tracks. Ruby’s blood ran cold, realising just how bright the light must have been.

‘We need to get down,’ Yang hissed. ‘Now.’ Ruby felt the back of her cloak and shirt grasped by Yang and saw Weiss in a similar grip; both being hurriedly urged forwards. There were flickering beams of light dancing among the trunks, shining from behind them, not nearly as bright and pure as the light that had just moments ago bathed the same trees.

Blake was a flitting light-footed shadow in the undergrowth ahead of them, stopping abruptly as she reached a small earthy mound. She pointed past the ridge. ‘Down here.’

Ruby clambered down ahead, still feeling Yang’s grip driving her onwards, and found that the mound was actually a mess of knotted roots that had grown over and around each other, creating a natural elevation that they could hide behind. She felt the others drop down beside her and they all pressed themselves low and firm against ridge, weapons drawn.

There were distinctive shuffling sounds, as someone came crashing through the vegetation where they had been standing, torchlight reflecting over the ridge above them. The watched it dart back and forth across the boughs in front of them in an erratic beam.

‘Anything?’ A distant voice called, too far to belong to the scuffling noises near them.

‘Not yet.’ Ruby stilled herself tensely. The responding voice was a lot closer than she had expected, soft and melodious, but still masculine. ‘Be quiet. It was definitely somewhere around here.’

Sounds of movement came from their right this time, thankfully still behind them. Ruby glanced to her team.

‘How many?’ Weiss mouthed silently. Ruby shrugged in uncertainty, but Blake lifted a finger to silently interrupt their exchange, ears flicking back and forth. There was still rustling above them, more muted as their first pursuer searched the nearby area carefully, and a second, more purposeful, crashing sound drew closer. Blake hesitantly lifted two fingers.

‘Probably those damn Branwens again,’ said the approaching voice, a younger, more arrogant tone. Ruby heard the sinister clicking of a weapon being cocked. ‘It’s been a while since they had a go looting us, probably about time for another attempt.’ The softer companion didn’t respond. ‘I wouldn’t mind a chance to pay ‘em back for the last run.’

‘Shut up and help me look. If they’re around here, they sure as hell know we are too after all your chattering.’

Ruby watched the light flick off to the left.  _ Are they leaving? _ From the corner of her eye, she saw Blake move into a crouch, completely silent, waiting. The light flicked back in their direction.

‘Go check over there, down in that gully,’ ordered the more sensible of the two. Ruby glanced at their surroundings, looking for a new hiding place, but to move from their position now would only expose them.  _ The only real option is to be found and fight. Will they call backup?  _ Blake began to lean forward slightly, ready to pounce. Ruby’s brow knitted together as she watched her teammate.  _ I hope she has a plan. _

‘Fine.’ The shuffling approached their hiding spot, spraying bark chips and small stones over the edge of the root ridge and down onto them as he dragged his feet carelessly forward. Ruby tensed herself, readying to jump to her feet; Weiss and Yang similarly preparing. Blake lifted a hand, halting them. They all froze, the few seconds feeling agonisingly long as the man above them reached the edge.

Ruby glanced up and saw his boots swing over the ridge, and he dropped to his feet in front of them, facing the opposite direction. She blinked, and Blake was slamming him at the base of the skull with Gambol Shroud’s hilt, while holding her other hand over his face as a short, cry of alarm was muffled. She gently lowered him to the ground and released him, the whole ordeal producing only the slightest rustling and over in seconds. Ruby’s mouth dropped open.

Blake glanced up as their other pursuer continued to search above them, seemingly unaware that his comrade had been knocked out. The beam of light once again moved away from their direction, and Blake, who had clearly been waiting, silently scaled the ridge and swung herself over. The sounds of small scuffle followed by a gentle thud floated down over the edge, and Ruby locked eyes with Weiss and Yang who seemed equally impressed.

‘Come on,’ Blake hissed from above

-

Dark tinted glass reflected Qrow’s face back at him as he tried to peer through the window between the vinyl lettering. He took a step back and examined the storefront. It was a small brown-brick building sandwiched between its neighbours, directly opposite the dock but as far south from the town’s central spiral as possible.

The bricks along the base of the building were stained white from the salt exposure and the decals in the windows had grown worn in the weather, leaving sticky outlines where parts had peeled off. The sign itself was no more imaginative than ‘FISH AND CHIPS’, its unpretentiousness likely more appealing to the no-nonsense traders and sailors who passed through the area, than any of the more colourful names found on shops in the kingdoms. An off-centre ‘closed’ sign was hanging from a peg on the inside of the door.

Qrow looked again at the slip of paper in his hand, provided by Kaiyō, detailing a known address of Hav Messing’s. After giving up his name, she had spent the next day tracking down a location with her police contacts and had managed to scrounge up a possible hideout of sorts. Looking up and down the street, he could see no other establishment that would fit the description in his hand. He slid the paper into his shirt pocket and, with one hand on Harbinger’s hilt, he tried the door.

The handle turned with a smooth click and the door glided open silently. Qrow slowly entered the dim room. It was filled with round tables and upturned chairs, slightly too crowded to be comfortable and designed to accommodate as many customers as possible. The walls were covered in small blue and white tiles, with bronze shields sporadically mounted as decoration. The front counter was one wipe short of clean.

Peering through the darkness, Qrow could see a faint glowing outline around a door behind the counter – probably the kitchen.  _ Hm. _ Qrow approached the counter and brought his hand decisively against the bell by the register, a sharp ‘ding’ radiated around the place. He was there to talk; strike a deal. There was no value in sneaking up on them. He ran a hand through his hair and heard movement in the back room.

The door was pushed open, illuminating the counter, and a young man dressed in reddish-brown leather approached, his white-silver Atlesian pistol pointed directly at Qrow in a rather lazy manner. Qrow raised an eyebrow.  _ Apparently I’m not considered a threat. _

‘Who are you?’ The man said in a bored, rough tone. A voice that implied ‘I’ll kill you if you get it wrong, but I’d rather not clean up’.

‘I’m looking for Messing,’ Qrow replied bluntly. ‘And I wouldn’t bother pointing that at me. Your wrist will get tired. Or broken.’

The kid looked him up and down, his eyes resting on the sword at Qrow’s back. ‘You some kind of mercenary? Huntsman?’

‘Yeah, one of those.’ Qrow lifted a chair from one of the tables and turned it right way up, taking a seat. ‘I’m told Messing likes to hang around here. The food any good?’

The pistol was holstered, and the young man moved back into the backroom, letting the door swing shut. Qrow was left in darkness, ears straining to hear anything from the kitchen. When the door re-opened, barely any light filtered into the room around the colossal mass of man standing in the entry. Qrow struggled to make out his features against the backlight. The figure reached out a hand to the wall beside him and flicked a switch; the shop filling gently with a warm, orange light from the sparse wall sconces. The shop might have almost seemed romantic under other circumstances.

The man moved forward around the counter to the table Qrow was seated at and lifted another chair off the table. In the light, he appeared as a pale man, whose skin had grown tan and weathered over the years, perhaps ten years Qrow’s senior. His small, copper-coloured eyes peered out under a thick, heavily-lined brow and he wore a long, well-kept, light brown beard. Thick, sinewy muscles were visible through the light, linen shirt he wore underneath his thin blue coat, which appeared a more fashionable and expensive facsimile of the thicker sea-worthy coats of some of the sailors. Qrow took in as much of his appearance as possible while he sat down across the table.

‘You’re looking for me, are you?’ Messing’s voice was low but surprisingly gentle, the words musically flowing from his lips. Qrow opened his mouth to speak but Messing held his hand up to interrupt. ‘Ockside. Bring me a selection please.’ The hand was dropped, gesturing for Qrow to continue.

‘You deal in Atlas technology.’ Qrow felt there was no point in beating around the bush. His cheap plastic chair was hardly comfortable and he was aware that he was outnumbered.

‘You know a bit about me already, do you?’ The words came across amused. ‘Qrow Branwen. Do you know why I wanted to meet with you?’

‘Meet with me?’ Qrow’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’m meeting with  _ you _ .’

Messing shrugged, his great heavy shoulders lifting and dropping dramatically. ‘I suppose. But you wouldn’t be able to do such a thing if I hadn’t arranged it.’

Qrow tightened his jaw. ‘Kaiyō. Gave you my name, did she?’ He didn’t enjoy being put on the back foot like this.

‘And passed on my location to you. I invited her to do as much when I heard someone new in town was asking around. Especially once I realise it was a Branwen.’ The deep voice dropped an octave at the use of his last name. Not for the first time, and likely not the last, Qrow cursed the reputation Raven had developed with their name.

‘So you organised this little meeting with me then. What exactly do you want to talk about?’

Messing leaned forward onto the table, the flimsy laminate surface wobbling under his weight. ‘I want to know why a huntsman like you is looking into me.’ The man named Ockside approached and placed a platter of battered seafood between them, prompting Messing to lean back off the table. A second man placed two large mugs of beer down alongside it and headed back into the kitchen. Ockside remained in the corner of the room, arms crossed in an attempt to appear menacing. ‘Tell me Qrow Branwen, why are you interested in my business?’

Qrow watched Messing reach for a calamari ring and take a bite. ‘I’m looking for a way to get to Atlas. I heard you know how to get stuff to and from there.’

Messing sucked the salt off his thumb while he considered this. His sleeve slid down his arm, revealing several bronze bands and bracelets around his wrist. ‘Why do you need to get to Atlas?’

‘That’s my business.’

‘Not if you need my assistance,’ Messing replied challengingly, taking a sip of his beer. Qrow eyed his own mug warily, wondering if forcing the weak alcohol down would improve Messing’s opinion of him.

‘I think there’s a job for me there. An important one. But I won’t know until I get there.’ Qrow settled on a half truth, hoping it would appease Messing.

‘I’m sure you can understand how I would find it hard to trust a Branwen around my operation. Especially an  _ actual _ Branwen, by blood. Not like the other vagabonds running under that banner, who cause me enough trouble.’ Messing stared him down challengingly over the rim of his tankard.

Qrow sighed, combing his fingers through his hair. ‘I’m not involved in the activity of that tribe. I just share the name.’ Messing snorted, and Qrow felt his gut clench. This was going to be far more difficult than anticipated.

-

The campsite was bathed in the glow of a couple of floodlights standing tall amongst the trees; sufficiently bright to light the area, but well-hidden among the dense forest. Blake crouched low among the mossy rocks, deep in the shadows. She could feel her teammates on either side of her, doing their best to remain still as they tried to get a closer look at the area.

Blake leant forward, Ruby’s earlier warning playing in her mind: ‘This is recon only.’ She lightly found her footing on the stone, trying to find a path for her teammates to follow silently. She edged her way over to the right towards the road, which wound back and forth around shrubs and trees in dangerously sharp turns before opening up into the camp. Blake could only guess it was designed to keep the camp shrouded right up until the visitor was already into the area’s clearing. Fortunately, it meant she could cross over the path without being in immediate view, and she vaulted herself across the gravel, rolling lightly into the slightly dewy forest floor on the other side.

She crept forward towards the edge of the forest line, the untamed shrubbery along the camp’s borders was particularly high, making it difficult to see in from the shadowy depths.  _ Also by design?  _ Blake glanced up. The silver fir trees beside her were tall, with long wide branches. She reached up for one of the lower hanging leaves, the needles brushing noisily together under her grip. Blake froze and listened, her ears twitching in all directions, but she couldn’t detect the sound of anyone approaching.

A gust of wind picked up and Blake used the opportunity to leap upright into the tree above her, hiding the rustling of leaves in the noise created by the gale. The branch she was perched on shuddered a little under her weight, so she quickly pulled herself up on the next branch and edged forwards towards the campsite, doing her best not the scrap at the bark beneath her boots.

Leaning forwards, Blake could just make out the opening of the camp beneath her. She frowned; it was smaller than expected. Trees had been ripped up to artificially create a clearing, rocks and roots had been cleared away to leave primarily mud upon which silver-white metallic crates were piled high, each crate at least as tall as Blake herself. The stacks were lined in rows along the right edge of the clearing; an idle forklift sitting at one end. A couple of armed guards stood along the stretch of open dirt down the middle of the camp, chatting in front of the cargo as a van rolled in.

Blake squinted, the branch bending under her weight. She glanced below her at the road they had followed into the camp, and then to the westerly road that the van was now pulling up. It was a small dirt track that came in from the left and joined the strip that led to the main road at the south of the area.  _ Purpose-built? Are there other bases? _

The two guards moved forward to the mud-flecked, beaten-up black van and opened the back as the driver came around to chat with a clipboard. One of the guards looked over the clipboard and headed into a large beige tent along the camp’s left border that Blake hadn’t noticed earlier. For a few moments, she just watched the other two talk by the van. She couldn’t quite see in the back of the vehicle from her position, but the long white-blue barrel of the guard’s rifle over his shoulder looked distinctly Atlesian.

She heard a rustling below her and glanced down, hoping it hadn’t been her team. The guard abruptly ceased his conversation. He turned rapidly towards the source of the sound and began to cautiously approach the forest line, slowly pulling his rifle off his shoulder, getting very close to where she knew the others were hiding. Blake drew Gambol Shroud, preparing her semi-automatic to get the jump on him, the familiar weight comforting while the rest of her muscles tensed. A rumbling from the west road drew nearer and the guard turned back to see a second van approach and park up alongside the first. Blake released a silent breath.

The first guard returned from the tent, carrying two smaller crates stacked upon each other, and a briefcase tucked under his arm. He loaded them into the back of a van and handed back the clipboard that had been precariously balanced atop the boxes. They went through an identical process for the second van. Blake’s brow furrowed.  _ Making deliveries? _ She quietly clambered back down the tree, avoiding anywhere the floodlights hit the trunk. As she reached the base, Yang came into view where she was ducked low in the bushes.

‘Did he see any of you?’ Blake breathed out, more mouthing the words than vocalising them. Yang slightly shook her head but then frowned, shrugging uncertainly. Blake bit her lip. ‘Should we go?’ She tilted her head in the direction of Windpath.

Yang quickly glanced over in the direction of Weiss and Ruby but couldn’t make them out in the darkness and foliage. They were likely still on the other side of the road. She lifted her head just above the top of the bush, and Blake inclined her head to see as well. It was difficult to see from this distance, but she suspected that the moving lights and engine hum meant the second van was leaving.

She lifted two fingers, followed by a wavy hand motion intended to indicate there were at least two people out there. She pointed back the way they came with her thumb and increased the fingers to four. Yang seemed confused momentarily, but her expression cleared when she realised that the two guys from earlier were still out in the forest somewhere and could return as soon as they regain consciousness.

Blake opened her mouth to propose they regroup when her ears picked up a faint whirring, incongruous with the rest of the forest murmur. She caught Yang’s eye with a frown, when a sudden flash of blue-white light burst into their peripheral vision, accompanied by the synthetic, pulse sound of a laser weapon firing, immediately followed by a sharp wooden crack. Blake felt Yang’s hand grip her arm and noticed the very concerned expression looking just behind her. Blake turned to see a burning hole in the bark of the tree not too far from her head.  _ Damn it. _

-

‘That tribe…’ Messing reached for a fishstick, continuing as though he hadn’t heard Qrow, ‘has caused me more than enough trouble as of late.’ He took a bite and pointed at Qrow with the remains. ‘Can you imagine? And they’ve barely just arrived here. There’s always been a few dotted around, even back from when Carnelian was alive, but not in these numbers.’

Qrow reached for the calamari to resist reacting to the name. A name that incited strength and aggression streaked across Qrow’s memory in splatters of blood.

‘It’s bold. To suddenly congregate on another’s territory and begin raiding. Stealing  _ my _ property.’

‘As I said,’ Qrow repeated, ‘I’m not connected to the activity of that tribe.’

Messing regarded him for a long moment. ‘You understand that it goes against my personal business policies to aid or arm anyone that could become a threat to me.’

Qrow frowned, gritting his teeth. ‘I understand the concept, but not how it relates to me. I have no interest in your business beyond whether it can get me to Atlas without a special visa...’ He trailed off as Messing’s kitchenhand came out to refill the tankards, and hand Messing a note.

Messing’s eyes quickly scanned over the paper before returning it to his subordinate and resuming the conversation. ‘Sure, passage today. But then you know how my business is run. Before long you’re poaching my sources or exposing my shortcuts to one-up my operation. Slowing down my business and edging into the market with my own damn transport.’

Qrow felt his temper growing short and a vein began to pulse in his temple, his fists clenched on the table. ‘What don’t you understand about this? I’m a huntsman; your smuggling operation is irrelevant to me. I’m just trying to hitchhike around Ironwood’s stupid border restrictions.’

‘And what about your companions?’ Messing replied, his eyes never leaving Qrow as he reached for the plate again. Qrow glared back in response. Messing seemed to be talking in circles, but he apparently was better informed than expected. ‘You’ve been seen around Windpath with several associates.’

‘What about them?’ He focused on the warm wafts of the seafood’s aroma, unwilling to let Messing goad him.

‘They were sticking their nose in Ockside here’s business. Asking all sorts of questions.’ Messing gestured broadly to where Ockside leaned carelessly back against the counter. A crook of his finger brought the man forward, pulling a server’s notepad and pen from the counter behind him. Messing took the pen and wrote two quick notes on separate sheets of the pad and passed it back to Ockside, who casually swung himself over the counter and into the back room. Messing scowled and tsked after him. ‘Hey! No scaling the counter. It’s got to look presentable for customers.’

‘They were also looking for transport to Atlas.’ Qrow narrowed his eyes. ‘I’m not sure what about this is so hard for you to comprehend.’ He was feeling uneasy, his prior anger shifting into suspicion. He listened hard but couldn’t make out any distinct noises from the backroom; the sounds of the nearby ocean rolled heavily over any other. Harbinger was pressed comfortably against his back. If he was about to be ambushed, he was confident enough in his own abilities.

‘Crabstick?’ Messing held one out, golden crumbs flaking off it on to the table.

‘You have it in for me,’ Qrow said bluntly, ignoring the offering. ‘Let’s not dance around it anymore. You have no interest in helping.’ He let his hand drop to the hilt of his sword, not too careful about being subtle.

Messing let out a short chuckle, downing the whole crabstick at once, swallowing quickly. ‘I thought I had made it clear that I wasn’t interested, yes. I wouldn’t help a Branwen any day of the week, especially not when they go sneaking around my operation.’

Qrow growled. ‘And I thought,  _ I _ made it clear that we’re not-‘

‘Then why do I have reports of your companions out at one of my camps?’ Messing spat angrily, his former politeness evaporating. ‘Once a pilfering bandit, always a pilfering bandit it seems.’ Messing slurped the remains of his mug, by the time it had thudded back down onto the table, he had regained his composure. ‘I’ve sent my note to have them killed. Someone will have already transmitted it.’

Qrow leapt to his feet, his chair clattering to the ground. ‘Damn it, Messing! We aren’t part of that tribe. Call it off.’

Messing’s eyes were watching the fist Qrow had made around Harbinger’s hilt, before lazily looking up at Qrow’s face. ‘Tribe or not, trespassers will be dealt with. No exceptions. Those damn bandits got away with some of our more valuable equipment last time. It needs to be made clear that my smuggling ring won’t tolerate any further action against us.’

‘So you’re going to make an example of some kids?’ Qrow asked incredulously, time ticking away in the back of his mind. He knew Ruby’s team was strong, but he couldn’t guess how many of Messing’s men were out there. He hoped they were smart enough to get away, before they were surrounded.

‘Call. It. Off,’ he said again, very clearly annunciating each word with a growl. Harbinger extended out into its full blade with a soft, metallic whistle; resting gently against Messing’s neck above his copper medallion chain. He had to admit, Messing was doing a good job of remaining neutral, though not quite calm. Qrow suspected that he had no formal combat training and the man opposite him was aware of their difference in skill.

‘What of your other companions?’ Messing’s gentle voice asked, his face impassive but the intonation beneath the words came through clearly. ‘The ones staying in the Breezeroad? You could stand here threatening me as much as you want, wasting time, but they should expect company shortly.’

Qrow was tempted to bat him across the face with the flat side of his sword. He thought quickly. It would be faster to coerce Messing into transmitting a message to call off the attacks, but he wasn’t sure just how much pressure he’d have to lay on him before he’d give up.  _ I’m not really much of a torture guy.  _ And more likely than not, Messing would retaliate harder when he could muster more manpower. Maybe hire the Carmine Fists.

Messing interrupted his thoughts. ‘You know, Kaiyō’s lot are rather attached to my contributions to the town’s account. It’s unlikely they would let any assault on my person go unpunished.’

‘But they’re fine to let a couple of assassinations in a hotel room slide?’ Qrow retorted, keeping the conversation going, hoping that Messing would let something slip. He was still mentally running through his options. The dimly lit room felt smaller, the tables crowding him, squeezing him into this small arena with a challenger who had already determined the outcome of the match.

Messing shrugged, his bracelets tinkling with his wide, full-bodied gesture. ‘Oh sure. It’s quiet. Out of sight, dead of night. It’s practically the Windpath motto. Long as you don’t attempt something of the kind in broad daylight in front of the rest of the townsfolk, they’ll let it go.’ He gave a small, knowing smile. ‘They don’t have the funds to pursue every missing person’s case, you see? Or at least they wouldn’t if someone like me weren’t around to assist.’

_ Team RWBY will be fine. The others though? Ozpin is still out and Oscar’s just a kid. The others are a little more capable, but a surprise attack? _ Qrow ground his teeth. He couldn’t waste anymore time trading words with Messing if he couldn’t be trading blows as well. He had to try calling.

He felt the familiar air resistance as he whipped his blade back, rotating it ninety degrees and swinging it back at Messing’s face. The flat metal made a very satisfying thwack sound as it made contact with the bearded cheek, barrelling Messing out of his seat and taking the contents of the table with him. Qrow’s untouched beer splattered across the linoleum and over Messing’s clothes, the glass shattering and scattering across the dining area.

Qrow promptly turned and bolted out the door, dodging between the tightly packed tables and knocking them aside with a scraping and clattering. Scroll already in hand, he felt the cold blast of wind buffet his face as he entered the docks, Ockside’s surprised exclamations ringing in his ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know how you feel about it. Your comments really motivate me to get this story out, even though it feels like there is so far to go.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, I gotta say on rereading it, I kinda like this one. Enjoy!  
> Thank you for all your comments!

The gritty sound of dirt grinding under approaching boots set Yang’s heart racing; her adrenaline spiking for the fight. She ducked her head low, Ember Celica sliding open with a satisfying click. Beside her, Blake threw the band of Gambol Shroud at the tree trunk, the ribbon snapping around and swinging back towards Yang, who caught the gun and pulled it tighter, catching Blake’s eye. _Now._

She released their makeshift sling weapon as their pursuer poked his head between the bushes. It swung rapidly in an arc, directly colliding with his face as he was pulling up his gun. Yang spun and swiped his legs out from underneath him, as Blake was already bringing Gambol Shroud’s sheath down in a vertical arc, crashing into the back of his head and pushing his face into the ground. Yang frowned as she saw his aura crack and fade.

The sound of rapid fire from the campsite drew their attention. ‘Looks like we’re fighting,’ Yang sighed with resignation.

‘Go right, towards the shipping containers,’ Blake responded, and Yang began her sprint forward into the camp. As she pulled through the foliage it became very apparent that Blake’s headcount was wrong. Instead of a van leaving, a new one had arrived – full of heavily armed thugs. What might have been two or four guards had turned into ten or so.

Yang gritted her teeth. Coming out into the open had been a mistake, but the run to the cover of the large containers was short. She held her gauntlet up over her face as she bolted across the camp, a few of their assailants now running towards them while bullets and lasers whistled past. A couple were absorbed by her aura and she glanced back to see one of Blake’s shadows take a hit. A sudden metallic bang brought Yang’s attention back in front; a ragged bullet-sized hole had been punched through the forklift. She skidded to a halt and quickly redirected herself around the back of the vehicle, before quickly ducking into the first aisle of crates, Blake just on her heels.

Looking up and down the row, the flat-faced crates provided nowhere to hide. The floodlights were obscured by the height of the containers, coming in at angles but reflected brightly off the silvery metallic surface. The effect was a stark contrast with the shadowy corners.

Fifteen metres of open space, about the width of three people. Yang had to think quickly. ‘I’m going to cut them off at the other end,’ she told Blake, who was blindly shooting rounds around the corner.

‘Okay, I’ll hold them off here,’ Blake nodded, casting a glance backwards. ‘Their auras are weak…’

Yang’s head bobbed in agreement, already beginning to move away. ‘If we can divide them, we should be fine,’ she called back quickly, sprinting to the end of the row.

She didn’t quite make it to the end when a stray bullet bounced off one of the containers, announcing the arrival of their flanking enemies. Yang pressed her back flat against the left side of the row as she continued forwards, staying in her enemies blind spot. The shooter, a young faunus woman, rounded the corner, a pistol in one hand and a large double-bladed axe in the other. She fired off a few shots, which Yang blocked with her gauntlet while returning with quick shotgun bursts as she began to run forward.

Before she could get close enough to strike, a second mercenary skidded around the corner, wearing elongated, shining claws on both his hands. He threw himself, feet first, up onto the sides of the crates to avoid one of the shotgun shots and kicked off towards Yang, one set of claws aiming to puncture while the second was drawn back to swipe.

She withdrew a few steps, boots scuffing in the dirt. Her enemy’s attack fell just short. As he landed, Yang ducked under his trajectory and swung her leg around to catch the long handle of the oncoming axe strike with the back of her heel. A metallic ripping sound from behind drew her gaze back towards the clawed attacker. His weapon had ripped through the sides of one of the solid crates, the solid steel rent into a large gaping slash. Yang raised an eyebrow as he pulled them out. _They look sharp._

Yang brought her leg back down and planted her feet as her two opponents readied themselves for their next attack. She could feel a slight grin pull at her lips. Stuck between two foes, about to strike with a split second’s notice; the adrenaline pumped her blood and the slight thrill of danger coursed around her body. The tight heat low in her stomach warmed her.   _It’s nice to be able to fight someone without the safety of the world being on the line_.

The clawed man lunged forwards, one hand aimed directly at her gut. Yang swerved to her right, behind the arm, shoving her elbow hard into his face, rotating as her left arm released a fiery explosive shot at the pistol-wielding attacker in front of her. Her shot was batted out of the way by the axe, before the weapon was swung forward with a lunge. Yang’s mind cleared, time-slowing as the axe approached her neck. Her right elbow was still connecting with the jaw of her other assailant, but his other hand was slowing approaching the rip her arm away. Nothing behind her. She grinned. And winked.

She shoved her right hand down on the oncoming claws, grabbing his wrist and forcibly dragging his body down to the ground; a half-turn that she completed by firing a shot at the ground with her left, pushing her up into the air in a horizontal spin as she released the wrist. The axe slipped through empty air between them where there hands had parted, the wielder awkwardly following through with her lunge towards her comrade’s fallen form. Yang kicked off a crate and brought her fist resoundingly into the back of the faunus’ neck where she collapsed, knocking down her clawed-companion as he had begun to get back up.

Yang landed solidly on the ground, just in time to see Blake swing Gambol Shroud down in its whip form at her two attackers. Their auras crackled and faded as they woozily tried to get to their feet. Yang strode up and together they each kicked a thug in the head to knock them out. Blake caught her eye with a smile.

‘I could have taken them,’ Yang grinned and stuck her tongue out, receiving a genuine sparkling Blake smile, her face glowing both literally and figuratively in the reflective containers. Yang’s cheeky smirk softened into an equally genuine smile. It was short-lived; the sound of gunfire and scraping metal ringing from just beyond the crate-yard reminded them where they were.

‘Ruby and Weiss must have shown up,’ Blake said, her tone becoming serious again.

Yang nodded, ‘Come on, let’s-‘ She heard the faint whirring before seeing Blake’s growing frown of concern. Spinning around, the guard carrying the Atlesian rifle was at the end of their aisle, his weapon rapidly powering up to fire. Yang gritted her teeth. They were too far from either end of the row, unlikely to get close enough to take him out or get off their own shots before the laser came directly down the path. Nowhere to go. _There’s no way he’ll miss._

Thinking fast, the whirring getting louder as the guard raised his scope to his eye, Yang span and brought her fist forward. Hard. She hit the side of the container dead-on and thrust it, and the two above it, tumbling into the next row. The momentum of her strike brought her stumbling through the opening into the next aisle as the whirring came to a peak, shifting to the telltale air-splitting subsonic pulse of the weapon firing. She turned her head back to see Blake take the full brunt of the high-powered laser, and Yang’s heart skipped a beat, before the figure fizzled and faded away. Yang breathed a sigh of relief, realising the real Blake was already climbing over the boxes back to the solid ground. Yang scrambled after her before the shooter could begin moving.

‘We should get to where Ruby and Weiss are,’ Yang called out as she ran behind Blake. ‘If they’re in the open, they’ll be too exposed to fight alone.’ The sound of an engine and barking voices flowed towards them.

The shadowed sides of their corridor were suddenly illuminated by the rapid flashing of a semi-automatic’s muzzle, accompanied by the cracking, drilling sound of gunfire. Yang felt the bullets hammer against her aura, thankfully most flying by harmlessly. She surged forward to get in front of Blake, knowing her aura was able to take more damage. She grabbed the white sleeve and yanked Blake back behind her. ‘Yang!’

There were two shooters at the end of the aisle, and a third mercenary came running towards them, his preferred weapon apparently a rusty dust-powered cattle prod. Yang continued forward, lining herself up with his form to block the shooter’s line of sight. She felt the twisting heat burn low in her abdomen and then begin to flow, her blood growing hot. In the corner of her vision she saw the muzzle of Gambol Shroud, Blake’s grip hovering over Yang’s shoulder and returning fire. Another enemy bullet made impact with her torso and Yang felt herself flaring up.

The runner took a few too many of Blake’s hits, his aura depleted as he approached but he continued to stab forwards with his prod. Yang planted her foot heavily in the ground, knocking aside his lunge. A surge of heat and the air around her crackled; her arm propelled forwards into his gut. A satisfying meaty thud sent the man flying back into his companions. Only to be replaced by two more.

A hand landed on Yang’s shoulder and Blake pressed down, using Yang a springboard as she jumped over and kicked one’s gun out of their hands. Yang lunged forwards with her fists to protect Blake’s flank with aggressive strikes, while Blake intercepted oncoming attacks with slices of her blades, trading blows as they drove their opponents back and down, Blake knocking them both out with a final, forceful swing.

They both panted from the exertion, taking the second of stillness to catch themselves before the next wave, when a commotion behind them drew their attention. Three more attackers had climbed through Yang’s makeshift pathway and were slowly approaching, thankfully all with close-combat weapons.

‘God, how many are there?’ Blake cursed under her breath as Yang fired off two consecutive shots down the aisle.

‘Aha!’ Came an exclamation from above, and they both looked up to see a silhouetted figure, with an unmistakeable red cloak and scythe, standing on top the stack of crates. ‘It’s Pinball time!’

A sudden array of white snowflake glyphs appeared on either side of the containers surrounding their attackers, who had all stalled in uncertainty at the sight. With a ‘Whoop!’ Ruby sped down in a flash of petals, knocking the mercenaries off balance, and in a burst of lightning speed, she bounded back and forth between the glyphs on either side, making the origin of the attack’s name fairly obvious.

The three figures collapsed in a bruised and battered mess and Ruby landed on one knee in front of them. ‘What the heck happened?!’ She asked in bewilderment, ‘I thought this was recon?’

Yang sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. ‘I guess we were spotted.’

‘Of course,’ came Weiss’ unimpressed voice at the end of the aisle. The sound of another engine in the near distance interrupted her before she could scold them further. ‘We need to go.’

Ruby nodded furiously, ‘Yeah, but the last car came up that road we followed here.’

‘And the first two came from that side path to the west,’ Blake hurriedly informed them, ‘I think there’s another camp that way.’

‘So we go east through the forest and then circle back around to Windpath when we think we’ve lost them,’ Ruby said, both as a summary and plan.

‘Right,’ Yang agreed and began their run, leaping over unconscious and injured bodies that were strewn across each other, scattered like expended bullet casings. They broke through the forest line quickly, each glancing back over their shoulder as the engine grew louder.

The deep shadows of the forest seemed more pronounced, and Yang’s eyes struggled to adjust after exposure to the floodlights. The moon offered little visibility and she felt her nerves spike as her pace slowed over the rugged terrain, obstacles appearing suddenly before her face. A car door slammed, and Yang felt the hairs on the back of neck rise, and she drew in a sharp breath. A hand roughly grabbed the material of her jacket and pulled her sideways. Yang staggered but quickly found her footing and whirled around with raised her fists. She came face to face with Blake, who tugged her more gently, urging her to keep moving. At Yang’s frown, Blake pointed at the deep crevice among the grassy rocks that Yang had been running directly towards.

‘Stick close to me until your eyes adjust.’ Yang nodded, assuming Blake could see it, and followed closely, heart thudding.

‘They must be communicating,’ Weiss hissed, trying to keep her voice low, as they clambered over tall twisting roots and uneven rocky earth. ‘They keep calling more people in.’

‘Something like Car’s booster?’ Blake suggested, using a branch above her head to swing over a ditch. They could hear yelling back in the direction of the camp.

‘Yeah, they shouldn’t have any signal out here. The booster would make sense,’ Yang replied, her heart still accelerated from the adrenaline and her blood pumping hot and hard.

There was a burst of gunfire and the yelling intensified, became more panicked. Yang snapped her head back but couldn’t see anything besides trees and bushes. The air around them was very still, sinister in contrast to the chaos within their earshot.

Ruby was also looking back, her pace slowing. ‘Grimm?’ She wondered aloud as more shots were fired, this time slower and much louder, with the same subsonic booming as the Atlesian rifle. They seemed to have unveiled one of their specially imported toys.

Yang also slowed, ‘Well, they’ve definitely got the weapons to handle it.’ Ruby hesitated for a moment longer and then resumed her sprint, dashing forwards to lead them away.

‘Hopefully the grimm distract them long enough for us to get away,’ Weiss muttered. A wooden crack echoed nearby them and a ground-shuddering thud hinted at the stopping power of the Atlesian weaponry. ‘We don’t want to get caught up in that.’

The pressed onwards, slowing every once and a while to get their bearings. Yang had stopped being able to hear anything a while back, but the just visible furrow on Blake’s face suggested that they were still being followed. Her adrenaline was running thin with the monotony of the forest, and though her muscles were comfortable with this level of exertion, Yang was beginning to feel mentally weary.

‘We should start to head back towards Windpath,’ Ruby called back at them, as she zipped between the trees around them, creating small gusts of wind that rapidly flitted across Yang’s face in shifting directions. They slowed to a stop in a gulley where the earth seemed to have sunken and eroded away between tall, gnarled roots. ‘Blake, can you still hear them?’

Blake’s eyes followed the directions that her ears turned. Yang closed her eyes. Leaves brushing past each other in the breeze, and the faint scuttling of small wildlife, all mostly drowned out by the zipping and whooshing of Ruby’s semblance. Nothing resembling footsteps or gunshots.

‘Ruby!’ Weiss hissed, pointing at the ground. Yang squinted and could dimly see petals floating gently through the air.

‘Whoops,’ Ruby replied sheepishly, glancing around the area she had just investigated.

‘There’s no one coming. Not nearby anyway,’ Blake interrupted. ‘But I think there’s something ahead.’ They all turned to look at her. ‘I’m not sure what though, it’s still a way off.’

Ruby took a few steps forward and hopped up onto a taller rock to take a look. ‘This way?’

‘Yes.’

Ruby jumped down off the rock and began to quickly pick her way through the undergrowth. ‘Let’s check it out.’

‘What about heading back to the city?’ Weiss asked.

‘We still need to put more distance between us and the camp anyway.’ Ruby’s head suddenly snapped to the right, as she peered in the direction towards Windpath. ‘Let’s move. Now.’

Yang moved to follow Ruby, hurrying as quietly as possible, her senses primed for any disturbance. She caught Blake’s eye, who was silently gliding through the forest beside her, flitting between the trees and ducking under branches as though she had the intricacies of the wood engraved in her mind’s eye. Her golden eyes gleamed back at Yang, solemn, questioning.

‘Grimm?’ Yang mouthed, sneaking a glance at Ruby who was more haphazardly traversing the forest, pausing for the briefest of seconds here and there, her red cloak bobbing and weaving; guiding their way. Yang looked back to Blake, stumbling a little over a small shrub. Blake stifled a laugh at Yang’s expense, still carelessly making her way through the forest without so much as a glance to her surroundings. She nodded however and gestured in the direction Ruby had looked.

‘It will draw too much attention if we run into them,’ Weiss whispered from Yang’s right, startling her. _Dammit, am I the only one who can’t ninja my way around?_ Yang watched the fluttering red form ahead, darting about like a rabbit, and pushed herself to catch up.

Ruby abruptly stopped, and Yang grabbed hold of the nearest tree trunk to avoid colliding with her. Voices filtered through the leaves ahead, and Yang quickly grabbed Ruby by the waist and lifted her behind the trunk.

‘Called in… four of them.’ Yang strained to make out what they were saying. She saw Blake and Weiss in her periphery, each creeping forwards with their weapons drawn.

‘Yang,’ Ruby whispered besides her. ‘I think I need to get away.’ Yang frowned. ‘There are more grimm here than we realised,’ Ruby’s voice faltered, uncertain. ‘I don’t know what…’

‘Okay,’ Yang said firmly, holding them pressed against the bark as the muffled voices continued indistinctly. ‘What do you want to do then?’

‘Put as much distance between me and the camps as possible before I light up like a homing beacon,’ she muttered. Yang nodded and peeked out behind the trunk. Blake and Weiss had moved too far ahead to see. ‘It’s fine, I’ll go on my own.’

Yang shook her head aggressively. ‘No. No way. If you do blow silver, there could be more of those bandits coming in from Windpath who will get to you before we do. And we don’t know for sure that you won’t pass out again. I’m not willing to take that chance.’

Ruby grabbed Yang’s sleeve urgently. ‘Yang, I’ve got to. I can feel it pressing in my head. The longer I hold it, the worse it will be-‘

‘Then I’m coming with you,’ Yang said decisively, her hand curling into a fist in frustration.

‘And who’s going to tell Weiss and Blake where we are?’ Ruby was already pulling way, and in a moment of stress Yang considered grabbing her in the same grip they had used when wrestling as children. ‘I’m sorry Yang, catch up with me when you find them.’ A red flash and Ruby had sprinted off.

Yang clenched her fists, angry at her own futility, and spun around the tree towards the voices. Blake dropped down from a tree in front of her.

‘It looks like-‘

‘Tell me later,’ Yang interrupted before Blake could begin. ‘Ruby ran off back to Windpath. Get Weiss.’

Yang whirled around began sprinting after her sister with little regard to how much noise she was making. Tree branches whipped across her face and arms as she pushed through, and she knocked each out of the way with aggression, focused more on keeping her feet moving and watching for any sign of silver light. Distracted, Yang ran headlong into a large ditch, her foot reaching for land and finding only air as she slipped over the edge. Her boots skidding through the dirt as she slid down, one hand thrown back for balance, keeping her upright.

Hitting the bottom, she stumbled forwards, reluctant to slow her pace, and leapt up to catch a protruding root from the ditch face in front of her. Yang pulled herself up effortlessly and used her momentum to kick her feet up over the ditch edge and back onto the forest floor. She began moving again before fully righting herself, pushing herself onwards.

Her anxiety grew as she raced. The forest around her was identical to the area she had just passed through. _Doesn’t the tree line get thinner closer to the town? Did I get turned around?_ She threw her head left and right as she sprinted, looking for any recognisable signs in the silver-green canvas around her.

Yang forced herself to pause, catch her breath and think, desperate to not let her swirling emotions get the better of her. _Ruby is very talented. She’s been in far worse situations. She doesn’t need you to look out for her._ She breathed deeply, the damp, woody air filling her nose. _Don’t get caught up in your stress._

‘Yang!’ She snapped her head to sound of Weiss’ voice on her left, she and Blake having caught up. Weiss was pointing forwards, and in the dim moonlight, Yang could see falling leaves floating to the ground. _Wait, not leaves._

She darted forwards, Weiss and Blake on her heels. If she listened closely, she thought she could make out the faint zipping sound of Ruby’s semblance, suddenly lost beneath a snarling growl close by. Yang barely had time to glance at the beowolf that lunged forwards before Myrtenaster was stabbed through the beast’s neck from above, Weiss having used a glyph as platform to kick off. Yang barely faltered her pace.

‘There are a lot, Yang,’ Blake called forwards. Yang wasn’t sure if it was her sensitive hearing or night vision that provided the information. ‘We’re running straight into a pack.’

‘Then where’s Ruby?’ Yang slowed checking for fallen petals on the forest floor.

‘She must be holding her power in to avoid drawing attention to us,’ Weiss replied as she caught up, slightly short of breath. ‘In which case-‘

‘It might be more likely to knock her out,’ Yang finished, vocalising the fear that was playing in the back of her mind. ‘We need to find her before either the grimm or the bandits do.’ Yang turned to Blake, question on her lips, only to see golden eyes already surveying the area.

‘There.’ Blake pointed at the ground, though Yang couldn’t differentiate any of the twigs and shrubs from each other in the darkness. ‘That’s a rose petal. This way.’ Blake gracefully leapt forwards over a low hanging branch and lead them on the trail.

‘She’s going to be fine, Yang,’ Weiss murmured beside her as they moved. Yang had a suspicion she was comforting herself as well.

‘The grimm are much closer,’ Blake said, abruptly lowering the volume of her voice and holding a hand out to stop them. ‘I think they’re all around.’ Yang thought she could vaguely make out dark looming shapes beyond the silver-grey trunks. They had finally found where the forest thinned, closer to the town, and in the faint mist, ominous silhouettes dragged their forms between the slender dappled birches.

‘Are you sure she came this way?’ Yang asked in an urgent whisper. ‘There are so many.’

‘Maybe she’s finally gained control?’ Weiss said hesitantly. Yang took a slow step, dead leaves crunching under her boot.

‘Yes,’ Blake gestured among the forest’s debris, all dark and grey in the meagre light. ‘Just trust me, some of these are Ruby’s.’

Yang nodded and bit her lip. If they went any further, they would likely draw the grimm unless they were very careful. ‘Maybe we should attract the grimm to us?’ She mumbled out loud. ‘We don’t know how many there are though. What if they have to pass Ruby to get to us?’

‘I think the best we can do is to keep following the trail and take out any grimm we come across as quietly as possible.’ Weiss said as she peered out.

Blake put her hand on Yang’s shoulder. ‘Weiss is right, we need to get to Ruby-‘

An echoing roar erupted, answered by a series of smaller howls. Yang tensed, scanning the area to see which direction the attack was coming from. The ground rumbled as the black beasts began their charge.

‘They aren’t coming for us,’ Weiss suddenly whispered, her voice laced with panic.

‘There!’ Blake’s grip on Yang’s shoulder tightened as she directed her gaze. A much smaller shape was moving on the left, very quickly, flickers of red glimmering between the trees in the moonlight.

Yang ran forwards towards the darting figure. ‘Ruby!’ She called out, ‘Ruby, they’re coming for you!’ She pushed her limbs to move faster, muscles straining, vaguely aware of the others beside her.

The grimm were approaching from all sides, a collection of ursa and beowolves as far as Yang could see, and Ruby was stuck dashing around among the trees with no clear route out, still too far away.

The first thing Yang saw clearly was the grimm. Their blurry, black shapes became more solid and defined as the night’s darkness was pushed back, exposing the inky forms. Next was the blindingly bright glint of a scythe’s blade as it caught the reflection of the high-beam light that was steadily growing, directed like the headlights of a car. Silver light on silver trees threw the forest into sharp relief and Yang watched the grimm before the light falter.

As she sprinted, she could see the swinging crescent powering through grimm that had managed to get close enough, swirling and striking with decisive force. The overwhelming beams flashing around with every turn of Ruby’s head, showing no signs of receding. Yang ducked her head as the light blinked in their direction, watching her feet to avoid being blinded.

She peeked back up. The light was less visible as the grimm swarmed around Ruby. Her stomach dropped out from underneath her as she realised that Ruby was surrounded, and her power had the potential to drop out at any second. It somehow felt like no matter how far she pushed herself, Yang wasn’t getting any closer.

‘Ruby you need to get out of there!’ Weiss yelled beside her. ‘Just run!’

Behind the forms of the grimm, Yang could see the light dimming, and the stomach that had fallen through the base of her torso was now surging up to escape out her throat. She strained her neck to see what was happening. One of the lumbering ursa that blocked her view was suddenly vaporised and a streaky silver ball burst through, colliding with a series of grimm and blasting through them one after the other.

Despite herself, Yang skidded to a stop on instinct, startled by the sudden bolt that seemed much more solid than the earlier beams.

‘She can shoot it now?’ Blake asked in shocked disbelief.

‘No,’ Weiss abruptly blurted out, seemingly having realised something.  She began sprinting again, though she veered off to the right, away from where Ruby had been circled. ‘That wasn’t a shot, that was Ruby’s semblance!’ She called over her shoulder.

‘What?!’ Yang asked aghast, looking in the direction of the silver burst. The burst wasn’t moving linearly and was dashing around haphazardly towards Windpath. Yang glanced back at the spot where Ruby had been fighting and realised she was no longer there, as the grimm dispersed and began to follow the streak. ‘Oh my god, that was Ruby.’

They dashed after Weiss, who was following the streak of light as best she could. Blake’s gun let off a stream of fire as they moved alongside the grimm. Yang caught on quickly to Blake’s thinking; they would be able to pick off the grimm much more easily while they were moving divided. She lurched sideways to collide with an ursa and land a well placed shotgun blast to the base of its skull, before adjusting her pace to match the others. In front of her, a glimmering light of a different kind alerted Yang to the fact that Weiss had paused her pursuit to summon the Arma Gigas, which promptly ran off to stall the stream of grimm. Blake quickly overtook her and took lead of the chase of Ruby.

The silvery blur blasted through another two grimm, still too far out of their reach. Despite the weaving, Ruby’s semblance still had her gaining ground faster than they could keep up. Yang rolled forwards into the forest mulch as a beowolf leapt at her side, sailing clean over her body and taking two quick blasts to the stomach. She was back on her feet in a flash, having barely lost momentum, and took a brief glance back at the tide of shadowy monsters. The group seemed to have thinned, many being stemmed by the Arma Gigas and some having lost interest as their prey drew too far to catch.

Eyes set forward, Yang watched Weiss bounce from glyph to glyph, piercing the vulnerable flesh between stiff white scales, imitated by Blake in a dance of acrobats as they bounded off clear air, flourishing their blades in sweeping arcs. Between them, in the distance, a silvery light began to flicker, its radius growing smaller.

Yang leapt, propelling herself through the air with the force of her guns expelling their rounds behind her. Tree trunks whisked past her on either side in grey blur, a woody corridor guiding her to Ruby. She tensed as she released another shot, pressing off a branch that snapped under the force of her feet. Before her, the light grew dimmer, and slowed, hazily wavering from side to side with a jerky movement.

She landed hard, only a few metres away from the light that looked more and more red each second before finally taking the shape of Ruby, staggering forwards. Yang lurched with her arms reached out, Ruby’s weight falling neatly into her grasp, just inches from the hard forest floor. Yang let out a shaky breath, glancing over Ruby’s form for injuries. She was unconscious, but unharmed. At least, unharmed by the grimm. Yang grimaced at the thought of Ruby’s headache when she awoke.

She pulled her sister towards her as her focus returned to her surroundings. Heavy footsteps approached and a malicious growl followed.

‘Yang, keep going,’ Blake shouted, ‘We’ll defend your backs.’ The swing of Gambol Shroud punctuating her words, and Yang was already getting to her feet. ‘Turn a little left to get back to Windpath.’

Yang tightly gripped her sister and began to sprint once again, the aches of the night pulling tight the fibres of her muscles as she carried Ruby back into town, with the snarling of grimm at her heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think, good and bad!  
> Also let me know if there was any break in story consistency. I remember editing one of the story chapters earlier and changing some things but I can't remember if that affected any on the continuity in this one.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hah! Another chapter? So soon? Even I wasn't expecting that.  
> Hope you enjoy.

They received a few curious glances as they walked the streets of Windpath, with eyes that quickly darted away before attracting unwanted attention.  _ Almost like Mantle _ , Weiss thought to herself as she gripped Myrtenaster firmly. The night weighed heavily down on the streetlights, draping itself thickly over the weak lamps. Few souls were out; the distinction between the city’s two populations clearer than ever. Those that scurried and those that stalked. It was apparent that openly carrying a weapon placed you in the latter category.

Beside her, Yang was supporting an exhausted Ruby, who dragged her feet while refusing to be carried. It made the walk back to the inn painfully slow, and Weiss knew her nerves were already haywire after the evening. Still, none of the shadowy figures around them were willing to tangle, and the short, curt, please-ignore-me grimaces that faded in and out of pockets of light were eerily familiar to Weiss.

The foyer of their inn was practically deserted, except for the single night staffer tending the counter and chatting to a weedy police officer in a checked shirt and scratched up pauldrons that he had tried to polish up to little avail. Weiss finally sheathed her weapon as they crossed by the counter towards the stairs.

‘Oh hey,’ the young staffer called out in afterthought. ‘Uh, just be aware there was a bit of a disturbance earlier. Make sure your doors are locked and all.’ Weiss narrowed her eyes.

The officer stood up straight and gave them an awkward salute. ‘We are here to serve and protect.’

‘We?’ Yang asked blankly, gazing around the empty bar, her eyes landing on a sole individual passed out with her head on the table.

‘Uh, well… me. I’m here to serve and protect.’ He sheepishly scratched his head. Weiss snorted and continued upstairs.

‘I’m looking forward to lying down,’ Ruby murmured as they shuffled along the carpet, allowing their tiredness to show at last.

‘Me too,’ Blake responded softly.

Weiss stifled a yawn. ‘Which of you has the key?’ She asked as they approached their door.

‘I think I do.’ Ruby began randomly patting her pockets, her movements lethargic.

‘We might not need it,’ Blake said suddenly, her voice alert. Weiss felt her exhausted muscles instinctively tense and looked over. The key-swipe to their room was smashed, the weak red lock-light faintly flickered now it was exposed from it’s casing. Weiss glanced up the hall to see that team JNPR’s was also shattered.

‘Is that-? Wait what?’ Ruby’s confused questions spurted Yang into action and she leapt down to their friends’ room. Weiss pushed their door open and quick as a whip had Myrtenaster brandished again. Their room was dark, the faint moonlight filtering through their towering arched windows. Weiss reached for the light switch beside the door.

‘Are you guys okay?’ Yang asked in the distance. Weiss’ finger found the touchpad and quickly slid the lights up, the room suddenly dizzyingly bright. Empty. She breathed out.

‘Anything?’ She heard Blake ask. Weiss shook her head as she turned to where Ruby was leaning against the wall, her face concerned but a little absent. She could hear voices from down the hall and her heart slowed to a normal rate. She quickly paced down the hall to look past Yang.

‘It was just a couple of them.’ She heard Ren say as she approached, Yang shifting to the side of the doorway so Weiss could see. Jaune, Ren, Nora and Oscar were all in their pyjamas in various states of disarray, sitting at the ends of beds in a room identical to team RWBY’s. They were each holding a steaming mug, and Weiss felt her relief fully sink to see that none of them seemed too distraught.

‘What happened here?’ She asked, stepping into the room as Blake and Ruby came up behind her.

‘Uh, well as we were just telling Yang,’ Jaune began, ‘A couple of brutes came by about an hour ago. It was just two big guys.’

‘They smashed the locks in and came by acting all tough,’ Nora interrupted. ‘They weren’t so tough when we pulled out our weapons though. A lot of threats and roughing around but they didn’t actually try and hurt us once they realised we were armed.’

‘Stalked off as soon as Qrow showed up,’ Oscar murmured, warming his hands on the mug. ‘Stupid bandits.’

‘They were Messing’s men.’ Qrow’s voice rasped from the corner. Weiss jumped, not having realised he was even in the room. ‘And they weren’t bandits.’

‘There’s a distinction?’ Jaune asked sceptically.

Qrow rubbed the back of his neck, seemingly tired. It was well into the early hours of the morning. ‘Yeah, one’s employment and the other is a way of life.’ Upon seeing everyone’s expressions, he clarified, ‘Not a good way of life.’

‘But everyone is okay?’ Ruby asked, concerned and growing better at keeping up with the events around. Weiss reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

‘Yeah,’ Qrow muttered. ‘We all seem to be okay. Messing was just trying to draw me away from him so I wouldn’t attack. He’s not brave, but he’s not dumb.’

‘I’m guessing because he caught onto us at his camps.’ Yang sounded flat as she moved into the room to lean against the wall. Ruby moved in as well and slowly sank to the floor and rested her head against the wall.  _ Need to find painkillers _ , Weiss idly reminded herself.

‘Looks like you all made it out alive,’ Qrow replied bluntly, looking them over. His eyes lingered on Ruby. ‘Did they put up a fight?’

‘Yes,’ Yang responded, equally bluntly.

‘The grimm too,’ Blake added, wincing slightly at the memory.

‘Did you learn anything?’ Oscar asked dully.

‘Not really,’ Yang sighed. ‘They have a series of camps up in the forests to the north, where the trees get thick. We only found one, but they had people driving in from side paths so they must all be interconnected.’

‘Breaking them up into smaller areas makes them easier to defend.’ Jaune nodded slowly.

‘Right, but the one we saw was just storage,’ Yang continued. ‘They’re definitely importing Atlas tech though.’

‘But we already knew that,’ Blake said sullenly, leaning against the doorframe beside Weiss. ‘And it doesn’t help us get to Atlas.’

‘Maybe,’ Qrow said, noncommittally. Weiss frowned. He was staring into space, his brow furrowed, thinking deeply. ‘Is that all you saw? Storage for Atlas tech?’

‘Well,’ Yang thought out loud, ‘They were also loading up vans, but not a heap of stuff. It seemed routine. Right?’ She turned to Blake who hummed her agreement. ‘And then there were a heap of grimm, but that’s pretty normal. Um…’

Weiss felt a lightbulb go off above her head. ‘And the airstrip!’ She blurted out suddenly, and she saw Blake’s jaw drop with shock at having forgotten. Qrow’s head whipped towards her.

‘What airstrip?’

‘When we were running,’ Blake said quietly, almost thinking to herself.

Weiss nodded along impatiently. ‘When we managed to break away from the camp and the fight, we ran off into the forest. East, I think.’ Blake’s nod confirmed her estimate. ‘We came across another site and saw an airfield.’

‘What?’ Yang was stunned. ‘An airstrip?’

‘It was definitely Messing’s,’ Blake said as Weiss began to pace back and forth in the room. ‘They were grumbling about trespassers at another camp.’

‘Which was you guys,’ Ren assumed.

‘What else?’ Qrow’s voice came out deep and curious. ‘What was there?’

‘Two old rust-bucket airships and one very nice-looking Atlas cruiser. I mean, a little worn and unclean for Atlas standards, but definitely modern and fully functional,’ Weiss replied.

‘A couple of the spaces were empty,’ Blake added. ‘Probably out flying.’ She frowned. ‘That’s all we saw though.’

‘Unfortunately we didn’t get to investigate before…’ Weiss briefly hesitated. There was something unspoken about Ruby’s situation. Something she couldn’t put her finger on. Something to discuss with Ruby before anyone else. ‘The grimm. There was an onslaught of grimm, so we just pushed to get back to Windpath.’

Her gaze was drawn to Ruby, who she was surprised to see so lucid and focused, despite resting against the wall. Ruby watched her back and Weiss could see the thoughts running behind the silver eyes.

‘That’s how they must be getting into Atlas and back,’ Ruby said, the determination and decisiveness in her voice as strong as ever. ‘Sneaking in with an Atlas ship might help them avoid any of the border security. Somehow.’

Weiss bit her lip. She unfortunately didn’t know as much about Atlas border protocol as she would like. There could be any number of code words or reference numbers or shipping registers standing in between an airship and a docking station.  _ Winter would know this. Maybe even Whitley. _ Weiss kicked herself at the thought of her insufferable brother studying relevant business practice.  _ If only I could get in contact with Winter. _ If they could wait for a letter to arrive however, they could wait for visa approval. And Weiss didn’t even know where to address such a letter. Certainly not to the Schnee Estate.

‘You want to steal that ship?’ Yang’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked away from Ruby to see Yang addressing Qrow’s back, where he was sombrely gazing out the window into the pitch black night.

He turned back to face them, a more contemplative than defeated expression on his face. ‘We may not have to,’ he said slowly. They all stood in suspense, but he seemed to change his mind and shrug off their attention. ‘We should go to sleep.’

‘How?’ Nora asked, incredulous. ‘They’re going to try to bonk us off in our sleep!’

Qrow chuckled. ‘Doubtful. But keep watch and keep your weapons ready. They sent a couple as bait for me, but I think they’re aware it would take more than two to be effective against such a large group as us. Not so “out of sight” when you march a brigade in from out of town.’ He rubbed his chin. ‘And tomorrow we have daylight on our side. It’s not worth the hassle for them to start a fight with us in public, but I don’t doubt they’ll find a way to lure us out at the next opportunity.’

‘Soooo?’ Yang drew the word out hesitantly.

Qrow’s eyes landed on her. ‘So, I think we have one more day here, and then we better get out fast.’

Ruby got to her feet, only slightly unsteady. ‘And then where are we going?’

Qrow walked out past Blake in the doorway. ‘Hmm, I’ll let you know. Gotta check something out.’

-

Exhaustion pulled at them the following morning. Ruby couldn’t tell if the five hours of sleep or the dull pulse in her temples was weighing her down the most, but her movements were more sluggish than usual. Each item of clothing felt heavy on her fingers as she folded them, laying them gently on the flannel bedspread.

She could feel her team’s eyes flicking over to her. Glancing back, she could see that they were much faster at packing together their equipment.  _ So it’s not just the sleep then _ , she winced a little at the thought of being weakened. If she normally prided herself on being the enthusiastic core of team RWBY, being so diminished after one encounter was a blow to her ego.  _ Though for one encounter… _ Blinding silver flashes raced through her mind, wind blasting across her skin, howling and growling and crumbling. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Gentle fingers brushed against her own, taking the pyjama shirt from her unexpectedly tight grip. Ruby opened her eyes to see Weiss pulling her clothes away from her. ‘You’re terrible at folding.’ The words were scolding but the tone was soft, and Ruby’s heart stretched at the way Weiss tried to hide her gentleness. ‘Look at this mess. There will be creases everywhere.’ Mutely watching Weiss’ hands work the seams of the few items of clothing Ruby owned, she wondered if Weiss was trying to soften the blow that she was struggling with basic tasks. Ruby opened her mouth to thank her, but upon catching Weiss gaze, she received only an eye roll and a shrug. 

Her vision was suddenly filled with steam; she looked down to see a cup of tea held before her, drifting sugar particles swirling in the cup, a few too many to fully dissolve. Ruby slowly took the cup from Blake, a wetness in her eyes accumulating. Black hair brushed against her face as Blake quickly wrapped her arms around her waist. Ruby bit her lip hard to avoid tearing up; her friendship with Blake rarely culminated in hugs. Blake pulled away just as quickly and stepped back.

‘I-‘ Ruby swallowed hard, ‘Thank you.’ She fidgeted with the handle of her cup and her vision faded in and out briefly. ‘I’m sorry.’

Weiss sighed, not making eye contact. ‘You shouldn’t have run off like that. I thought we agreed we wouldn’t separate when the grimm were around.’

Ruby nodded slowly. ‘I didn’t want the guards to find you. I would have drawn them to you.’

‘We could have handled it.’ Yang spoke softly from where she sat on her bed, arms crossed. She didn’t seem angry, only tired. She had been the one to sit up and keep watch, and though Yang always woke up bright and early, Ruby felt guilty at being the cause of her worried fatigue this morning. ‘Rubes, we’d rather handle it together.’

Ruby wanted to explain how she’d tried to help them, wanted to spare them with her split-second decision. Protect them. Looking at their faces, she realised they were thinking the same things.

‘It was a tough call,’ Blake offered, sitting on her bed beside Weiss. ‘One we weren’t prepared for. And we will be next time.’ She levelled her gaze at Ruby, who nodded again, taking the olive branch.

‘If I feel it coming on, I promise I’ll stay with you guys now. No matter the circumstances.’ Ruby sipped her tea, the exorbitant amount of sugar deliciously sweet on her tongue but dizzying on her brain.

Yang stood and wrapped her in a one armed hug, and Ruby relaxed. ‘How’s your head?’

Ruby experimentally tilted it from side to side. ‘Not too sore. But it’s weird.’

‘You were fine earlier in the night.’ Weiss ruminated. ‘You took out that first grimm with next to no pain right? I wonder what exactly made the difference. Too many grimm?’

‘Or your semblance,’ Blake pointed out. Ruby frowned in confusion and looked at Yang who seemed to be puzzling it together.

‘Yes, maybe it was using your semblance,’ Weiss agreed, straightening the re-folded pile and clasping her hands together over her crossed legs.

‘My semblance?’ Ruby questioned, rubbing her nose.

Weiss and Blake glanced at each other. ‘When your eyes activated, you used your semblance,’ Blake began slowly, not entirely sure herself what she was explaining.

‘It seemed like the effects… merged?’ Weiss said uncertainly.

‘You were zipping around in a silver blur, basically just blasting holes through grimm.’ Yang clarified. ‘You don’t remember?’

Ruby furrowed her brow trying to make sense of the blur of images in her mind. ‘Sort of. I remember the grimm disintegrating when I got close to them. I guess I didn’t realise that my semblance had taken on the effects.’ She gave a sheepish grin. ‘Hah, I just keep getting weirder and weirder, huh?’

Yang snorted. ‘Yeah, you do, ya big freak.’

Ruby’s grin grew wider. ‘Well, I’m not unconscious anymore. And aside from the whole silver-semblance thing, I seem okay. Sooo, progress?’

‘I guess so,’ Yang replied. ‘Are we talking to Qrow yet?’

‘I think we should be more concerned about getting out of Windpath,’ Blake responded as the voice of reason. ‘Qrow says we have today but I’m not so sure. We should go check on Messing and make sure he isn’t up to anything.’

‘I agree, it can wait until we’re sure we aren’t about to be ambushed,’ Weiss added. ‘Is everyone packed?’

Ruby glanced at her neat pile beside her bag and smiled. ‘Well, yeah,’ she said cheekily, pointing at her clothes. ‘I’ve been ready for ages.’

-

Windpath’s low docks were bustling in the biting cold, mid-morning air. Blake had lost track of the weekdays since beginning this mission, but she hazarded that today was a weekend. The fish and produce markets were in full swing and masses of people bundled in quilted coats and down jackets were perusing stalls along the closed tram line. The brightly glittering sun rays did little to diminish the chill, but every once and while Blake would catch a glimpse of crystal water off the bay, reflecting the sparkling light back. They were the briefest of hints at beauty between oily barges and mould stained buildings.

Weiss had already complained about the strong fishy smell in the air that made Blake salivate, calling her mind back to beachfront shopping trips with her parents. Yang had been gently poking fun at her all morning in a way that made Blake grin instead of groan. Yang always laughed twice as hard when Blake gave it back.

She watched Ruby’s crimson cloak float between the people that squeezed by them, as they followed a map on her scroll toward a certain fish and chip shop near the water’s edge. Qrow had given them directions and clear warnings to not provoke Messing. He gave no hints as to his own plans today, but it was important that Messing wasn’t planning another attempt before they could escape the town. Despite Qrow’s mysterious plan, Blake couldn’t see that they had any way forward to their goal other than stealing that Atlas airship.

Blake checked the map on her scroll. They were only two blocks away now. Among the milling residents, she had already see three clusters of white-shouldered police though it was unclear if they were friendly or not. Yang leaned over her shoulder to check the map, breath tickling Blake’s neck.

‘How are we doing?’

‘Close, I think.’

‘This feels like a bad idea right? Walking into the lion’s den?’

Blake shrugged. ‘Yes and no.’ She wasn’t sure how to elaborate but she had a feeling Yang understood. The crowds felt safe and Messing boiled down to just another man throwing his weight around.

The red cloak darted away to the side, excitedly whipping up the wind. Ruby returned with battered fish-on-sticks and a broad smile and handed them out. Blake hungrily tore into hers, struggling not to laugh and choke at the perplexed and unimpressed expression on Weiss’ face.

‘It’s fish Weiss,’ Ruby explained, also hiding her laughter.

‘Yes, and it’s… deep fried… in batter?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

Ruby laughed out loud at that. ‘Because it tastes good! Why else?’

Weiss held it out in front of her dubiously. ‘I don’t know…’

‘Blake will eat it,’ Yang chimed in, playfully digging her elbow in Blake’s ribs. Blake shoved her back, losing her between an annoyed couple. She was still vaguely hopeful that Weiss would hand it over.

Weiss turned it over a few times, took a hesitant bite and made a face, Ruby snickering the whole way through the experience. ‘Thanks Ruby, but no thanks.’ She held the skewer out and away to whoever would take it.

Yang swiftly reached out and snatched it before Blake could even get her hopes up. ‘Thanks Weiss, don’t mind if I do.’ She casually swayed the fish in front of Blake’s face as they continued their walk, still finishing her first. Blake scowled at the obvious bait. Yang threw her a wink, ‘You know fish isn’t exactly my favourite, but I guess I’m still hungry. May as well finish it, right?’

‘You’re the worst,’ Blake grumbled, and peals of Yang’s musical laughter washed over her.

‘Go on, you dummy.’ Yang handed the stick over and bumped Blake’s hip. ‘You’re fun to tease.’ Blake attempted to snort scornfully, but her mouth was too full of food.

As they approached the waterside, and the stone paving was replaced with a solid oak boardwalk, Blake pulled her scroll’s map out again. Examining the shoreline along the map; the marked location was just to their right. Looking up, it seemed Ruby had already spotted the little shop.

‘Is that it?’ Yang asked quietly, though her voice was easily drowned out in the squalling of seabirds and humdrum of people. The rough weathered brick façade of the building was unassuming but it was definitely the right shop.

They drew closer, pushing through the tide of people, to find the store at near full capacity. The outdoor seating was filled with families and friends, brightly dressed in weekend clothing. Blake hesitantly glanced at the others, who were all equally uncertain. A couple of rowdy children ran by Blake’s legs as they were playfully chased by a large dog, and she instinctively stepped back.

‘Should we… order?’ Weiss wondered, standing on her toes to see into the shop. They could make out nothing untoward or suspicious. The servers were noticeably more worn and gruff than some of their friendlier clientele, glinting piercings and fading tattoos standing out among the colourful seaside-goers. But they seemed to only be providing service, with no menacing or intimidating to be seen.

‘No,’ Ruby said slowly, ‘I don’t think we should stay here. It doesn’t look like there is anything to find.’

‘We could check out the back?’ Blake suggested, eyeing off windows and balconies in the buildings on either side. ‘See if there’s a shady backroom like the bookstore?’

Yang was standing with her arms crossed, checking out the people around them. ‘They’re unlikely to start a fight here, right? With all these people around? I know the Windpath cops will let a lot slide but I don’t think the residents would be too happy.’ She squinted, and Blake followed her gaze to a couple that were taking a picture in front of a tall ocean cruiser. ‘And it seems a little touristy. Starting fights is bad for everyone.’

Ruby bounced on her toes a little as she thought, but it was Weiss who spoke first. ‘I don’t think there is anything to gain here. We were only supposed to come by and make sure Messing wasn’t making any moves, but he’s clearly not making them from here.’ She gestured at one of the servers pouring water at a table near them. ‘All we can achieve is antagonising them further.’

Ruby nodded. ‘We don’t want them chasing us when we try and leave.’

Blake shrugged, ‘Okay, let’s go then.’

‘Can we go the long way around?’ Yang asked, continuing down the pier towards the water without waiting for a response. ‘I’m kind of enjoying the walk, and those rooms are a pretty stuffy place to sit and wait for our assassins.’ Blake snorted.

‘I take it you aren’t concerned then?’ Weiss asked sceptically. ‘That we were fighting for our lives last night?’

Yang raised an eyebrow. ‘Those guys were hardly the toughest fight we’ve been in. They crumpled under one hit from us, and they must know it by now.’ She knitted her fingers behind her head, causing passers-by to swerve around her elbows. ‘I don’t doubt they could make life hard for us in the long run, but actually hurt us? Nah. It would just be for show.’

Blake nudged through people as she caught up to Yang, colliding with a few as she edged by. She internally laughed at the way people just parted for Yang, though it made sense with the way she walked with confidence. Someone shoved past her quite hard and she stumbled sideways into Yang, who deftly caught her with one arm around her waist. Blake felt herself inexplicably flush.

‘I suppose you’re right,’ Weiss sighed, walking along Yang’s other side, safely guarded by the sisters on either side. Blake suppressed a giggle at the sight of Ruby being buffeted around by the crowd. ‘Though it hardly seems sensible to think so recklessly.’

Her scroll buzzed in her hand and she glanced down casually once, and then slowly again in puzzlement.  _ Unknown number? _ She opened the message, sticking close by Yang’s side as they walked to avoid any further collisions. Blake slowly drew to a stop, and found herself frowning in confusion at the screen as she read.

‘What’s up?’ Yang asked, and Blake wordlessly passed over the scroll. She watched the puzzled expression slide over Yang’s face. The other two had also stopped and walked back to them.

‘What is it?’ Ruby leaned up to read over Yang’s shoulder.

‘It just says “See you in Atlas”,’ Yang read out, raising her voice a little over some arguing tourists walking by and the blaring of the large cruiser’s horn.

‘From who?’ Weiss questioned, looking at Blake, who shrugged in response.

‘Unknown number.’

‘Could be Sun?’ Ruby suggested. ‘Maybe he got a new scroll, but he knew we were headed to Atlas.’

‘Your other friend too, with the ponytail,’ Yang recalled. ‘Could be her?’

‘Ilia?’ Blake furrowed her brow. ‘Maybe…’ She slowly looked back at the direction they came. She started as she remembered the hard shove, still feeling the impact in her left shoulder. The side she had been holding her scroll.

‘I think they’re here,’ she said urgently.

‘What? Why?’ Weiss asked, but Blake could see she was glancing around and readying herself.

‘Someone ran into me a few moments ago. I think they scanned my scroll’s number in the collision. It’s not set to private.’ Blake found herself rotating, eyes trained on the people in the crowd, scanning for suspicious gruff faces.

‘Do you see anyone?’ Ruby asked, also looking around. Blake shook her head and began skimming the shopfronts.

‘I’m going to text back,’ Yang said suddenly. ‘Seems like they wanna talk.’ Blake snapped her head to where Yang was typing out a message, but still keeping her peripheral vision on high alert. The message simply read ‘Where are you?’.

‘You think they’re going to respond?’ Weiss questioned doubtfully. ‘I think they’re just trying to distract us. They must have some angle.’

A small ding and a buzz from Yang’s hand drew all their attention. Blake leaned in to read it.

‘Ship.’

Blake’s gaze locked onto the boats along the pier. A couple of fisherman tying their sails. A tour guide directing passengers onto a small mariner. The large ocean liner puffing out coal smoke as it began to pull away from the pier.

‘I don’t see anyone on the smaller boats,’ Yang said, while Blake hurriedly scanned the crowds aboard the departing ship.

‘Me either.’ Ruby voice seemed to come from a distance as Blake flicked from face to face. ‘It must be the big one right? Are they trying to draw our attention away from something?’

Tall and short, pale and dark, human and faunus. Blake picked out traits and discarded them as she analysed the top and lower decks.

‘They could be behind us,’ Weiss said quickly. ‘Or trying to stall us somehow to get back to the others?’ Blake began to turn to respond when her eyes were finally laid on their elusive target. Her blood froze and she could feel her hair stand on end.

‘Where’s that boat headed though?’ Yang asked, the sound seemingly travelling through gelatinous oceans before reaching Blake’s consciousness.

‘Atlas,’ she whispered, her eyes fixed on a face, pinpointed in the crowd.

‘What?’

‘What are you looking at?’

‘Are you okay, Blake?’

She sucked in a shaky breath and felt a cool sweat sliding down her back. A face she hadn’t seen in a long time. Longer than she realised.

The boat had pulled fully out of the harbour, but his face was still clear as crystal. Handsome, carved out of marble, light brown eyes. He wore a green baseball cap over his spiky red hair and a black hoodie. The mask nowhere in sight. Memories of his face flashed in her mind as she struggled to remember the last time she’d seen his actual face. She watched him glance down at his scroll and type.

She fumbled out, her fingers shaky but determined as they searched for their mark, unable to drag her eyes away from that face. First finding the thick leather belt, her fingers quickly traced their way up to clutch at the thin brown fabric, her grip tightening ferociously around the material just above the hip.

‘Blake? What-‘

Another ding. A vibration. Closer this time, as Blake realised that she had unconsciously drawn herself to Yang. In her peripheral, Yang lifted the screen to read aloud.

‘I’ll be seeing you soon. My love.’

Blake’s fingers tightened their grip.

-

The inside of the tent smelt strongly of mud and grass, a distinctly woodsy scent that made Messing quiver his nose in distaste. He leaned back in his cheap, flimsy chair that sank deep into the dirt under his weight. Before him sat a three-pronged, polished chrome device, faint aqua light accenting the edges along its wide flat surface. He scowled at the small spaceship, his frown deepening when the lights pulsed at the melodious, sophisticated voice that emerged.

‘So you think there’s ample cause for me to continue to supply you?’ The voice held no aggression but Messing still flinched at the implication. He could detect the hints of boredom and dissatisfaction that permeated the voice. He pictured its owner, sifting through papers and tinkering with bolts, distracted and unimpressed. He imagined how small his own voice must sound.

‘I must say,’ the voice continued, barely interested to see if he had a response. Messing spat viciously into the uneven dirt beside him. ‘With the White Fang losing their figurehead, I can’t see that there is much point in continuing to supply Atlesian weaponry to Anima, can you?’ Messing opened his mouth. ‘Then again, with such a sudden change in the White Fang’s values,’ Messing shut his mouth with a grimace, ‘There are bound to be those who feel left behind. Betrayed by their cause.’

Messing edged his way into the monologue. ‘I have no interest in your agenda with the White Fang,’ he said flatly.

‘I don’t know why you’d think I’d care what you’re interested in. You’d presume I supply you with access to Atlesian exports just for the benefit of your profit?’

‘And I pay premiums for those goods,’ Messing said, a slight sniff in his gentle voice. He glared at the rotating holographic ‘W’ that hovered over the device.

The voice scoffed. ‘Your “premiums” are hardly worth my time and effort. If I were you, I would make more of an effort to find a way to make our goals align. Anima is old news now, the best I can expect from this business is further destabilisation in Mistral by a diminished radicalised faunus militia.’

Messing crossed his arms in frustration. ‘The best you can expect, maybe. I, on the other hand, can clearly see a need for these transactions to continue. With these damn Branwens-‘

‘Branwen, you say?’ The voice cut him off suddenly, a note of intrigue apparent.

Messing glared distrustfully at the device. ‘Yes. They were spying on my shipments. Not too long after having stolen-‘

‘Which?’ The voice interrupted him again.

‘What?’

‘Which Branwen? Was one actually present?’

Messing ground his teeth as he considered lying out of spite. But this information clearly had purchasing power. ‘Yes. A man. Qrow Branwen.’

‘Ahhh.’ Messing grimaced at the delight in the voice. ‘Well that  _ is _ interesting.’ He sat in silence.

‘And what, pray tell, might Qrow Branwen have wanted with you?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember being pretty pleased and excited when watching V6 and discovering that I had used a similar Atlesian airship plot point to the show, but it is kind of the logical conclusion when trying to sneak into a high tech, high military kingdom.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY! I didn't mean to leave it this long. My only excuse is that Person of Interest took over my soul and left me broken. And then I was on my honeymoon.
> 
> Please enjoy, hopefully it was worth the wait but I kind of powered through the editing to get something up.

The deep northern forest seemed considerably more inviting in the broad afternoon sun; the grey trees bathed in a warm orange light that pierced through the gaps in the spiny leaves. The small dull-green shrubs and moss that lined their footpath seemed almost pretty in the daylight, but Blake couldn’t help but picture thudding boots trampling through, hunted by one of their ever-increasing number of enemies.

They had queried Murphy about possible transport out of Windpath along the northern main road, and he had re-directed them to an infrequently running touring service. The establishment’s manager had agreed to run an off-the-books trip out as far as the Gale Tunnel, the local name for a strip of the main road where the trees knotted into each other as the tunnel’s roof, and also the most northern part of the tour’s reach. They had paid their dues and alighted the minibus at the tunnel, several kilometres away from Messing’s camps.

Blake clenched and unclenched her hands, a repetitive motion that she had struggled to break throughout their hike through the northern forest. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck, and her ears were constantly straining for rustling, whispers, footsteps. Anything that might indicate that they were being followed.

She walked in-step with Yang, fervently glancing over at her at the slightest movement, checking if she was alright. And still there. Their encounter from the morning had deeply unsettled Blake, more than she’d like to admit. The Adam that she had stood up to at Haven had been a symbol. An image of a monster who had manipulated her, attempted to kill her parents, and dismembered her… someone important to her. But he had also been a weak and petty man. A duality hidden beneath a mask upon which she had painted new faces, new personified words. She had seen the monster and the fool in that mask that night, and a mixture of rage and pity had fuelled her.

_ But this morning… _ Blake involuntarily shivered. She had stared into the face of someone she once loved. A strong, yet tender face. A vision of justice. It had dissolved all the faces she had placed upon that mask. She had been forced to abruptly reconcile those facets of violence and weakness with her vision of justice and, once, love. Now a symbol of revenge.

The walk away from the dock had happened in a shell-shocked blur, and all Blake could really remember was clinging onto Yang’s jacket, firm in the knowledge that she was there and Adam hadn’t hurt her.

–

Blake dimly heard their door swing shut behind her, and magnetic lock clicking into place. The shuffle of her teammates around her and the soft bubbling of the kettle beginning its boil. Blake’s mind raced with the implications and realisations of seeing Adam headed to Atlas, his face in public view for the first time in years.

‘That was Adam was it?’ Yang’s voice drew her back into reality, and the panelled walls of their four-bedded room swam into her vision. Blake’s fingers reflexively clenched and she realised she was still clutching Yang’s jacket. The voice had been small, hesitant. Confused with a hint of suppressed anxiety. ‘Without his mask?’

Blake turned to her, witnessing the way Yang’s eyes had grown distant as they gazed at the floor, seeing only shattered glass, fallen rubble, and swish of a red blade. But her brow was furrowed; an attempt to stay angry, and to stay strong. Blake reached her other hand out, resting it on the belted hip, Yang’s eyes blinking towards her.

‘Are you okay?’ Blake murmured, and Yang’s expression seemed puzzled, as though trying to figure out the answer. Blake sucked in a slow, shaky breath and slid her arms around Yang’s waist. ‘I’m so sorry for bringing him to you,’ she whispered fiercely, holding tightly.

Yang’s arms slowly and uncertainly enfolded Blake, her mechanical arm weighing more heavily on Blake’s shoulders than just metal. ‘I…’

‘I’m sorry,’ Blake whispered again, when Yang seemed unable to finish her sentence. ‘I’m so sorry that he follows me.’ Yang’s grip tightened with her words, and suddenly it seemed as though Blake was the one being held.

‘It’s not your fault,’ Yang said firmly, and Blake felt sorrow and guilt shudder through her.

‘It is. You’re going to keep facing him as long as I’m around.’

‘Well, you’re also going to have to keep facing him, so we may as well do it together.’ Yang’s words were punctuated with the firmness of her hold and a sudden strength. ‘ _ We’re _ going to be okay.’ 

Blake buried her face in Yang’s neck, blonde hair tickling her nose. She felt ashamed of the way Yang was comforting her, but she was too reluctant to pull away. The way Yang’s fingers tightly clutched the back of her coat, however, made her wonder if Yang needed this too.

-

‘You think this friend of yours is still out here?’ Ruby asked her uncle as he walked alongside her with his familiar lilting step. He gazed down at her, and she could see the deep tired rings under his eyes.

‘Hmm, hard to say,’ Qrow murmured thoughtfully. ‘I asked around in Windpath. Some of the innkeeps and a couple of characters of low reputation. Not so much the police. Didn’t want to risk another Kaiyō situation.’

‘And you think he’s around these parts?’ Ren questioned, his hands firmly around the straps of his pack, where Ruby knew the relic was residing. Qrow shrugged in his noncommittal way.

‘Who exactly is this friend of yours?’ Weiss asked, sounding sceptical. Qrow chuckled at her tone.

‘He’s an old contact. Really old, from before my Beacon days.’

‘Oh.’ Ruby fiddled with her cloak fastening nervously. ‘So, your bandit days?’ She clarified.

Qrow nodded to the beat of his gait. ‘Yeah. Briar used to run with the old tribe.’ He glanced at the group and hesitated.

Ruby pushed him gently. ‘We need to know everything.’ She caught Yang’s eye and saw her sister nod slightly. 

Qrow still seemed reluctant to talk, but he drew in a deep breath. ‘I suppose it’s for the best. Briar was with the tribe when Carnelian was in charge. Carnelian was the tribe leader when we-‘ He caught himself, ‘- when I was a kid.’

Yang snorted and glared off into the forest, and Ruby winced for her. Despite everything that had happened, it seemed that Qrow still refused to talk in detail about his sister. It had been a familiar tune all through their childhood – every time Qrow or their dad mentioned the past, they had omitted any reference of Raven. It had been easy enough to connect the dots for Yang and Ruby though, and so the past had stopped being discussed at all. Mothers became an avoided topic in the Xiao Long-Rose household.

Qrow briefly looked to his niece before continuing, though she pointedly kept her eyes on the trees. Ruby knew Yang would still be listening for any scraps she could gather, especially when Qrow had never discussed his life prior to Beacon before. ‘Briar was a decent enough guy. You know, considering the circumstances. Had a bit of a soft spot for- for me.’

Ruby gazed up to the sky, a long thin strip between the rows of towering trees that followed their winding path.

‘He ditched the tribe not too long after I left for Beacon though. I don’t think he agreed with the way things were being run. Or maybe he just wanted to start out on his own. Bit of an entrepreneurial type, as far as criminal sorts go.’

‘And you think he’s out here?’ Nora asked, engrossed in the story, and Ruby was once again reminded that Nora and Ren had had something of a rough nomadic childhood as well. It sometimes occurred to her how lucky she had been to grow up with a stable father, even with all the loss in her family.

‘Yeah. The tribe moved around a bit, but we were always fairly central in Anima. I’d heard Briar had moved on somewhere closer to Windpath. A good spot for opportunity-seekers.’ Qrow scratched at his stubble sombrely, eyes distant. ‘He helped us out of a tight spot once, when we were doing one of our first serious missions-in-training for Beacon. Let us spend the night with his little crew after a tough grimm-slaying.’

‘Dad too?’ Ruby asked with surprise. ‘And-‘ She caught herself, remembering the unspoken rule. ‘And the whole team?’

Qrow nodded. ‘Yeah.’ He stopped talking, and Ruby realised with disappointment that he was done with the story.

‘Why do you think he can help us?’ She asked after a long silence.

‘Because bandits have been stealing from Messing, and that’s kinda Briar’s MO. I’m hoping he stole something useful.’ Ruby was puzzled by his words, but she could tell from the vagueness of his responses that he was winding the conversation down.

They walked on in silence for another hour, only the crunching of boots on a dirt road and the sounds of wildlife skittering and rustling disturbing the peace. This sort of trekking had become familiar to them, and fatigue took much longer to set in than a year ago.

‘Are we close?’ Jaune eventually asked, looking up at the sun’s slow descent. ‘When you said just out of town, I assumed we wouldn’t be doing another night on the road.’

Qrow looked back over his shoulder. ‘Well, I can’t be sure they’re around here. This is one of a couple of likely spots, but this makeshift road seems promising.’

As he spoke, Ruby glimpsed the tip of a rough wooden structure through the tree line. ‘Uncle Qrow?’ She pointed in the direction of what appeared to be a tower.

He shaded his eyes from the low sun and peered to where she pointed. ‘Everyone be on your guard,’ he said quietly, and the tension in the group shifted. ‘But don’t look too hostile.’

They approached the tower, made of simple planks and only stood as tall as a one-storey building. Amongst the trees, just beyond the outpost, stood a basic wooden fence, only chest height, with a wide cattle-gate that the tree-lined road continued through. On the tower’s platform, an uninspired older faunus man stood, examining his nails with a rifle-bayonet combo resting against his shoulder. He seemed surprised to see them but made no effort to look intimidating.

‘Hope you know where you are, mate,’ the bandit called down lazily. ‘But you seem like capable sort.’

‘Hah,’ Qrow chuckled. ‘We are. Can we find Briar down there?’ He gestured down the road beyond the gate.

‘You know Briar?’ The man’s surprise increased, his bushy red tail flicking down around his ankles. ‘He might be around, sure.’

They all hesitated, but he had gone back to examining his nails, leaning against the balustrade of his platform. Ruby glanced to her uncle uncertainly, but Qrow merely shrugged and walked on towards the gate. The bandit in the tower made no effort to stop them.

‘He doesn’t care who we are?’ Weiss asked quietly as Qrow pushed the gate open.

‘One way to do business is to have people come to you. But I’m also guessing there are enough people down here that trying to stir trouble would be a bad idea,’ Qrow replied as they filed past him. ‘There were always two ways of living the nomadic bandit lifestyle. You can be fiercely territorial, with a close-gated family-esque community. That was how Carnelian ran things.’ The trees opened into a wide manmade clearing with a dozen brown canvas tents, and large groups of people milling around. ‘Or you can by more informal and open about it. Less hierarchy and more chaos, but freer. Briar always liked it that way.’

The camp was much bigger than the ones Messing ran, clearly designed for living more than just storage. The people were eating by campfires, drunkenly jesting, and practising their fighting in structured spars. It seemed almost friendly and communal, but the wear and tear on the people and their equipment hinted at a rougher, less moral lifestyle.

‘Hey.’ Qrow approached one of the nearest people. ‘Looking for Briar.’ The woman jerked her head to the right, beyond one of the tents. The walked through the shades of brown and beige, receiving some curious and some aggressive glances. Ruby felt very conspicuous in her bright red cloak but Qrow seemed wholly indifferent. She glanced back at her team who were all looking around with curiosity.

Weiss sidled up and nudged Ruby in the ribs. ‘This looks a lot like Yang’s mom’s camp,’ she murmured quietly.

‘Yeah?’

‘Mmm. Only they don’t seem to have a leader. There’s no centre or organisation to this place,’ Weiss said as she looked around. ‘There’s something odd…’

‘There aren’t enough tents,’ Blake said behind them, and Ruby looked back over her shoulder. ‘There are more people than tents. These people are all transient.’

Blake was right. The camp seemed like more of a gathering place of strangers than the territory of a particular group. 

Qrow led them down the side path into a second, smaller clearing. There was a much smaller group of people present, moving boxes out of the back of a large shiny, silver-white airship. Qrow began to laugh at the sight of it.

‘Well, looks like we know what the bandits stole from Messing,’ Weiss muttered.

-

‘Qrow?!’ A scratchy voice exclaimed with surprise. Yang watched a thin, rickety-looking man in his sixties pull away from coordinating the unloading. He reached them with his hand outstretched to give Qrow a firm handshake.

Yang realised with surprise that he was significantly shorter than her. He had weatherworn and sun-browned skin, with wild, wind-blown brown hair that reminded her of Dr Oobleck. He was dressed casually in a faded red button-down shirt and brown cargo pants, with only cursory leather armour pieces across his shoulders, chest and forearms.

‘Hey there Briar. I knew it would have been you that stole it.’ Qrow smirked at the Atlesian ship. ‘Nice piece of technology you got there.’

‘Haha!’ Briar laughed, ‘New acquisition too! I take it you know the man I stole it from too? Old Hav Messing thinks he’s a big man in these parts of the woods.’

‘You proved him otherwise, I see.’

‘Indeed I did!’ Yang noticed he spoke with great emphasis and volume. He had a grandeur about his statements that was inviting, and very unlike any of the bandits she had so far crossed paths with. ‘But enough about that old thing. I haven’t seen you in decades!’ Briar looked past Qrow to the rest of their group, eyeing them up gleefully. ‘And you’ve gotten yourself another group of friends.’

‘It’s true, it’s been a while. And I’m afraid I’ve come back looking for another favour,’ Qrow said a little sheepishly.

Briar raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, if the price is right and it’s not too inconvenient, perhaps. I’m sure I could rustle up a couple of favours that an accomplished huntsman like yourself could handle for me, if I had a minute to think about it.’

Yang was a little surprised at his response. His shrewd and calculating eyes contrasted his overtly friendly mannerism, and she could see that he wasn’t quite so un-bandit-like as she had been beginning to think.

‘I’m glad to see you haven’t changed, Briar,’ Qrow began, before Briar waved his words away.

‘Don’t beat around the bush, Qrow. If you have a favour to ask, ask it outright. You’ll know soon enough if you have to look elsewhere for assistance and you won’t have to waste goodwill on buttering me up.’

‘We need a lift to Atlas. Preferably in that.’ Qrow nodded to the airship.

Briar turned to look at the ship and scratched at the rough stubble on his chin. Their little group stood around awkwardly, unable to participate in the negotiations between the two old friends.

‘I take it that standard travel is out of the question? You wouldn’t be asking if you didn’t need to get there off-the-books.’ Briar turned back to Qrow and frowned pensively for a long while, as though solving an equation. ‘You know... I heard that you quarrelled with your sister a while back. Many years ago now. That true?’

It was Qrow’s turn to frown, and Yang was suddenly very alert to their conversation. ‘Yes.’

‘Well, I’m afraid the answer is no then, my friend,’ Briar said with only a hint of apology in his voice. ‘I hope you find another way there without too much trouble.’

‘What?’ Qrow blurted out, annoyed. ‘What the hell does Raven have to do with this?’

Briar gestured around him to the people walking past, carrying boxes and discussing logistics over diagrams. ‘A lot of Branwens – hah, my apologies – a lot of bandits from Raven’s tribe are here. Since the tribe scattered across Anima recently, many of them have taken up residence with the few of us who call this place home. Makes sense considering we’re all really from the same tribe since Raven ousted Carnelian. And good riddance for that.’

Yang’s eyes were wide with intrigue. The man before her was a seeming gold mine of information about her mother. She’d had no idea it had been the same tribe that her mother had grew up in.

‘Why would any of these people care whether you help us out? Hardly anyone here must be from the old days besides you,’ Qrow growled.

Briar laughed loudly and placed his hands on his hips. ‘I’m just painting a picture for you, kid,’ he replied with a grin. ‘Look Qrow, if you’re fighting with Raven, why would you think I’d take your side in it?’ Yang’s head darted back and forth between them. Qrow was both stunned and seething, while Briar seemed genuinely unaffected about the whole affair.

‘Are you afraid of her?’ Qrow asked, incredulously. ‘I didn’t think you gave a damn about anything like that. She wouldn’t have to know.’

‘Nahhh,’ Briar waved the accusation off. ‘I’m not afraid of her. I have no reason to be. I haven’t even seen her since I saw you last. But Raven is sharp, and if she’s got a reason to be mad at you, I’m sure it’s a good one.’ He shrugged, his whole body taking part in the motion. ‘Look I’m not in the habit of doing favours out of the goodness of my heart. Someone like Raven? She’s done enough for the people around here. Even me, indirectly, with damned Carnelian. You, however? Well, you haven’t really done anything to earn my good favour, and helping you could almost be seen as a disservice to Raven.’ He clapped Qrow on the shoulder. ‘Sorry pal, the cards are just stacked against you on this one. But stick around and have some food, I’ve no qualms with that.’

Briar turned and walked back towards the main campsite. Qrow leapt after him, somehow struggling to keep pace with the much shorter, lively man.

‘ _ Raven _ has done a lot? That’s your reason?’ The rest of the group trudged awkwardly after them like a flock of sheep, eager to hear the conversation but trying to hide it. Yang was closest in step behind them.

‘Well, of course! Old Carnelian was losing his touch. Long after I left of course. Not adequately spreading resources, ignoring social issues, and the sort. Tribe was falling apart at the seams while Carnelian grew more distance from reality.’ Briar talked with his hands, gesturing emphatically as they reached the fire at the edge of the camp; glittering orange sparks as the sun’s last rays peeked through the leaves and painted the camp in pale pink. ‘And then Raven… Hey Verd! How’d it go down with Raven and Carnelian?’

Briar had called out to a wideset man around Qrow’s age, with a squared face and deep dark skin. As the man approached, Briar nudged Qrow in the ribs. ‘He was there, you see.’ Qrow only frowned in response and Yang wondered how much of this tale he already knew. She could feel both mounting excitement and dread easing their way into her throat.

‘She walked on into camp one day,’ Verd began, scratching at his chest beneath his worn tan singlet. ‘We all recognised her of course, from before. Left quite an impression as stone-cold and stubborn. Didn’t think she was coming back though. She strode right up to him in the middle of camp and told him he was done.’ Verd began scratching at his balding head instead. ‘Carn wasn’t really listening to her though, he’d started raving on about traitors and abandoning the tribe as soon as he’d seen her step through the gate. She just whipped out that damn long sword of hers and stared him down. Told him if he couldn’t lead then he wouldn’t.’

Yang flicked her eyes to Qrow, the wrinkles in his forehead growing deeper with each word. He’d crossed his arms over his chest. She was torn inside once again.

‘And then?’ Briar asked, surely not for the first time but he still seemed engrossed. A couple of nearby bandits wandered up to them carrying bowls of soup, and Briar absent-mindedly gestured to their group. Nora eagerly reached forward, quietly thanking them, and the rest of her team followed suit, taking a seat on a nearby fallen log lined up by the fire. Yang was very aware that the rest of team RWBY were looking to her for direction, and remained standing by her in reinforcement. She swelled at the implicit support.

Verd seemed surprised at the prompt, but dutifully continued. ‘Well, he came at her with that bloody great cleaver and quick as a whip she’d knocked him flat with the butt of her blade, cool as ice the whole time.’ Verd paused and chuckled to himself. ‘Bet he regretted sending her to fancy combat school, hey?’

‘What happened to Carnelian?’ Ruby burst out, seemingly unable to contain herself any longer. It brought a wry grin to Yang’s face; Ruby loved a dramatic heroic tale. The smile slid off just as quickly as it had come.  _ Was it heroic? _ There was a cold ache deep in her stomach and she felt Blake sidle up to her side.

‘Oh, he’s dead.’

Yang’s heart stopped. ‘She killed him?’

‘Nah,’ Briar snorted. Yang released a breath but could still feel her nerves stretched taught as a tightrope. ‘Heard the grimm got him. Fitting end, considering he’d been sending folks out into the woods unarmed as punishments.’ A broad grin lit Briar’s face. ‘But this is all ancient history, right? She was barely into her twenties at the time. Spent the next decade or so scrubbing up and reordering the tribe.’

Verd nodded solemnly. ‘Raven was strict and unforgiving, but things were better for it. It was a shame we had to split up.’

Briar shrugged and slipped his fingers into his belt loops, his wild hair blown about by the light breeze. ‘You see Qrow, I’ve no desire to slight her.’

‘Raven’s damn legacy has been a real thorn in my side lately,’ Qrow managed to get out between his gritted teeth. ’What’s it going to take, Briar?’

Briar tilted his head, sizing Qrow up somewhat sadly. ‘Ah, you’re just the wrong Branwen. Don’t take it personally.’

‘What about the other one though?’ Verd asked, his large hairy arms folded over his broad frame.

‘Other what?’ Briar asked curiously.

‘Other Branwen. Raven’s daughter,’ Verd repeated, jutting his chin towards Yang, who’s heart rate once again took a turn for the worse. She’d never been referred to as Raven’s daughter by someone else before, and it sent shivers across her skin. Aware that she was suddenly going to be the centre of attention, she crossed her arms aggressively, preparing to fend for herself.

‘Raven’s what now?’ Briar spluttered, his head rapidly flitting between Verd, Qrow and Yang before he finally shuffled close, his wide, alert eyes peering at her with intrigue.

‘Yeah, she came to the camp a couple of months ago,’ Verd said, seemingly unaware of the bomb he was dropping.

‘Ease up now, Briar,’ Qrow said stepping in, with a cautionary hand placed between them when Briar had encroached into Yang’s space.

‘I’d say I didn’t believe Raven could have a daughter if she didn’t look so damn similar,’ Briar said in disbelief. Yang glared ferociously at him, and his dumbstruck expression cracked into a gleeful grin. ‘Ha ha! That’s a Branwen scowl if ever I saw one.’

‘I’m not a Branwen,’ Yang stated flatly.

‘But you are her daughter?’ Briar questioned, unconsciously edging back towards her until Weiss and Ruby stepped forwards. Yang stayed silent, denials and confessions racing through her mind. She clenched her fingers around her arms, feeling Blake just a hair’s breadth away from her side.

‘Walked on in like she owned the place and confronted Raven,’ Verd idly continued, oblivious to the tension surrounding him. Yang could even see Nora and Jaune shovelling soup, completely enthralled with the proceedings. ‘Knocked out Shay’s tooth,’ Verd laughed and called out to a nearby woman. ‘That was a good one hey, Lettie? We gave him a hard time with that for ages.’

Yang didn’t like how pleasantly fascinated Briar seemed, his slightly crooked teeth visible in his smile. ‘Like her in more than just looks it seems, hey?’ Yang ground her teeth. ‘Walked into the middle of the tribe for a man-to-man confrontation. Definitely are her daughter.’

‘Quit it,’ she said, trying to hold in her temper.  _ The last thing I need right now is to get angry enough for… that. _

‘How’d Raven take it, Verd?’ Briar asked. ‘Wish I’d seen it.’

‘I don’t really know. This one here came in, made some demands, started a fight, and then they had tea in Raven’s tent. And then Raven seemed to send her on her way. Released her white-haired friend here too.’ Briar briefly glanced at Weiss, who wore her haughtiest expression.

‘Ha!’ He said gleefully, rubbing his hands together. ‘Well, maybe I can do a favour for Raven’s daughter then. Wouldn’t want her breathing down my neck, saying I wasn’t hospitable, now would I?’

Qrow opened his mouth to say something, then thought the better of it, shaking the thought away. Yang watched the silencing look he gave to Jaune, who had also been about to talk.  _ As far as they know, Mom has it in for us. Does she? _ Yang hated the swirling confusion that wound its way around her insides and squeezed at her organs with each passing thought.  _ She’s merciless. But they said I looked like her. But she’s violent. But maybe she helped her tribe. _

‘Whaddaya say Qrow? A ride for a story? I want to hear all about this trainwreck.’ Yang clenched her jaw, and upon feeling the swirling sensation rising like bile, she promptly turned on her heel and stalked directly into the forest.

She heard Qrow let out a heavy sigh. ‘Come on Briar, let’s eat. And maybe drink.’

-

She angrily kicked a fallen branch across the forest floor, the sudden crack it made as it collided with a trunk was met with skittering and fluttering as nearby creatures bolted away. Yang watched a hare dart away into the bushes and grew angry at her own temper.  _ Probably just like her. _

‘Yang, are you okay?’ Blake’s soft hesitant voice called out from behind her. Yang snorted as her team approached. People who were okay didn’t try to murder small animals with flying sticks. She forced herself to still, her arms crossed tightly across her chest in an effort to curb her more aggressive impulses. She drew the faintly pine-scented air through her nose, once, twice, before answering.

‘I don’t like being compared to her,’ her voice came out as a monotone in an effort to stay neutral. She focused on a peeling strip of bark a few feet in front of her, curling away from its tree. She was sick of seeing of seeing her team’s sympathetic, pitying faces every time her mother came up.  _ No, that’s not it. _ She was sick of the self-pity that wracked her every time. The self-doubt and anxiety and uncertainty. None of their faces would clear that lifelong confusion.

‘I thought we were okay with her now?’ Weiss asked, puzzled. ‘Because she helped us at Haven and isn’t trying to kill us?’

‘She didn’t mean to help us,’ Yang replied flatly, kicking her feet through the dead leaves and mulch. ‘Not trying to kill us is really lowering the standard for people we like.’  _ What am I doing? _

‘Well,’ Ruby began in her ‘silver-lining’ voice, and Yang squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation, ‘Those bandits out there seem to be big fans of her. She must have done some good things, in their eyes at least.’

Yang gritted her teeth. ‘They steal and cheat and murder. If anything that makes her sounds worse.’

‘Yang,’ Blake said softly. ‘I know she confuses you. I thought we agreed that there’s no point deliberating over it until we knew more.’

Yang let out a derisive laugh. ‘Everything I find out about her makes her less and less clear. What more is there to know?’ She glared down at her boots but regretted the callousness in her response.  _ It’s not their fault. Now you’re taking it out on your friends? _

‘You say you know nothing about me, but it bothers you to be like me. How does that work?’

Yang snapped her head up, a chorus of unsheathing and protracting weapons echoing among the nearby trees as her team took position for battle.

And there she stood, leaning against the tree with the peeling bark. Red and black, speckled by the shifting shadows of leaves catching the last rays of the day, one hand casually resting on her weapon’s hilt. As close she had been on the rooftop. She didn’t flinch a muscle at the sight of their weapons. Merely inclined her head, deep eyes staring out beneath the tips of dark hair. Yang’s breath caught, and she cursed herself over and over for freezing every time.

‘What are you doing here?’ Ruby demanded, Crescent Rose held diagonally across her body, a pose, Yang recognised, designed to quickly bring the scythe into an uppercut.

Raven shrugged, and folded her arms across her chest, lips quirking into that infuriating smirk. ‘Eavesdropping. I have to say, your frustration is very entertaining.’

‘Of course it is,’ Yang spat venomously, but the jittering of her nerves betrayed a certain yearning buried deep.

Raven raised an eyebrow, faint laughter in her voice. ‘If the comparison bothers you so much, one might assume you’ve already made up your mind about me.’ Yang frowned.

‘Yang, what do you want to do?’ Blake murmured from beside her.

‘We could get your uncle here in an instant,’ Weiss added, Myrtenaster twitching in her hand.

‘And I’d be gone just as fast,’ Raven said wryly, casually pushing off from the tree.

Yang’s mind moved sluggishly while their words whirled past. She clenched her jaw. 

‘Well, I’ve got nothing to go on,’ she retorted, ignoring the aside conversation and returning to the issue at hand, ‘Assuming the worst means I can’t be disappointed.’ There was fire in her voice, but her insides twisted anxiously as they awaited Raven’s dissatisfaction.

Though it never came. The twitch of her mother’s expression hinted at her amusement. And something else.

‘Smart. Prevents you unwisely placing your trust.’ Raven slowly paced a semicircle before them, each step more of a lazy swing of her leg, never drawing closer.

Yang hesitated. She hadn’t been expecting her statement to be met with affirmation, and she pressed her tongue against her teeth to avoid speaking impulsively. She could sense that her team was following her lead, their expectation weighing heavily on her mind. Her mother continued, unprompted.

‘When you don’t know the truth, it’s best to assume the worst,’ she repeated, her dark eyes sliding evenly across their surroundings before returning to Yang.

Yang glanced at her team, the twisting sensation clenching and unclenching nervously in her stomach. ‘Does that bother you?’ She asked, stabbing in the dark, entirely uncertain what thoughts lay beyond the impassive face.

Raven’s eyebrows raised beyond view and she snorted in surprise. ‘If someone ever asks you to blindly trust them, you should treat it with full suspicion.’ Leaves rustled around her feet as she quietly swished them with her steps. ‘If I thought you should trust me, I would give you solid reasons.’

There was a considerable pause as team RWBY swapped confused looks in light of the statement. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves, and Raven seemed entirely unperturbed by their hesitation as she turned on the spot and began pacing back. Ruby finally broke the silence. ‘Uh… so… are you going to?’

Raven’s eyes locked onto her, peering closely as she considered the question, lips pursed in thought. ‘No,’ she eventually replied nonchalantly, ‘that would defeat the point. How would you know I wasn’t lying?’

Ruby opened her mouth to respond, but closed it after a moment’s pause, clearly unable to think of a rebuttal. She turned her questioning gaze to Yang, who was equally nonplussed.

‘That’s… very honest of you,’ Weiss said, a hint of both suspicion and confusion in her voice.

‘You’re saying we shouldn’t trust you then?’ Blake clarified, her eyes narrow as she shifted her weight, finally sheathing Gambol Shroud in opposition to her words.

Raven scowled at that and abruptly stopped pacing. ‘That’s not what I said at all.’

‘But it’s what you implied,’ Yang pointed out, puzzled by the whole situation. Her statement was met with an exasperated sigh as Raven dropped her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Yang wondered if she was counting to ten. It was the most humanly relatable behaviour she had so far witnessed in her mother and, despite the frustration being aimed at Yang herself, there was something likeable about the action.

‘You want to know something about me, Yang?’ Raven began, lifting her head up. It was clear she was irked. ‘I don’t talk with implication. I say what I mean and nothing more.’ She turned and faced them front on, placing her hands on her hips. ‘You are far too enthralled with your preconceptions, and not enough by facts. It makes you extremely easy to manipulate.’

Yang felt rather put out, as though she had been scolded. She glared back at her mother. ‘What  _ are _ you saying then?’

Raven rolled her eyes. ‘I see you spent your childhood desperately trying to connect the dots. All your father and uncle have to do is give you a throwaway hint for shape, and an emotion for colour, and somehow you’ll paint the whole picture without them having to lift a finger.’

Yang crossed her arms across her chest, and stared her mother down, her own frustration building.

‘How about instead of imagining a bizarre approximation of reality, you actually demand the rest of the dots? You’ll find it makes your judgements much easier.’

‘And should I demand them from you then?’ She asked defiantly.

Raven replied with a wry smile. ‘Well, you can try, but I don’t have a good enough reason to give them to you yet.’

‘Typical.’

Her mother laughed at her haughty attitude, and buried beneath her anger, Yang recognised the strange pseudo parent-child argument they were having. ‘Not the answer you were looking for, little Snapdragon?’

Yang’s gaze snapped back to Raven. ‘What did you call me?’

Raven’s expression grew haughty. ‘Your name means “little dragon”, and you’re quick to anger. I thought it was fairly self-explanatory.’ Yang’s heart did a funny half-skip.

‘I…’ The steam had left her and she was once again unsure what to say. But Raven’s gaze suddenly turned to the camp, and Yang couldn’t find the words in time.

‘Looks like my time is up.’ The transformation was so sudden, Yang barely blinked before a fluttering of feathers signified her mother was gone. She realised how dark their tiny clearing had grown, and a slight shiver ran through her.

‘Yang… ?’ Blake started, but before she had a chance to finish asking her question, Oscar appeared between the trees, moving slowly as though trying not to interrupt.

‘Hey, are you guys hungry? They’re going to start packing up the food soon.’

Yang felt Ruby’s long gaze on her, looking for a hint about how she should respond, but Yang was too transfixed by the empty space of her mother to pay attention to give an answer.  _ Why does she keep showing up? _

‘Yeah Oscar, we’re coming.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so I didn't guess that there were going down the scar route with Adam, which is much cooler.
> 
> Thank you all for your comments again! They are the reason I pushed to get this chapter up.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being so inconsistent with the updates. At least we're in the home stretch now?
> 
> This one was edited quickly, so there are possibly mistakes.

Nora could feel the soup running over her lips messily as she slurped down the remains of her second bowl, pulling it away with a satisfied ‘ah’. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, catching Ren’s amused raised eyebrow from the corner of her eye. She grinned back in response and stuck her tongue out. She’d never learnt the finer points of etiquette as a child and felt no real reason to begin practising them now. Especially among their present company.

‘Do you think Yang is alright?’ Jaune asked from beside her as he stared gloomily into the dregs of his bowl. ‘Everything that’s happening must be pretty hard on her.’

Ren sighed. ‘It can’t be easy. I can’t even imagine being in her position.’

Nora placed her bowl by her feet and rested the heels of her palms on the hard log bench on either side of her. The campsite had grown dark, but aside from the fires dotted across the grounds, a few shoulder-height standalone lamps had been set up, their cool blue glow in direct contrast to the warm orange of the flames.

There was still mingling groups of people around them, some wearing hardened armour while others preferred loose hiking gear; all lazing about casually. They were bandits and travellers at ease with their environment, stretched out by the fires with bright flickering light dancing across their jovial faces. But there were others, huddled in smaller groups of two of three, standing in shadows by the tents, or examining maps by the cold lamps. Nora watched them closely. Even those dressed in clean, neat outfits - the sort she had seen plenty of in Mistral and Windpath - wore the same hunch and expression of displacement as those in ripped and patched clothing. It was a posture she was keenly familiar with, and she wondered whether the grimm or the bandits were to blame.

Beyond the halo of one of the bright lamps Oscar appeared, making his way back to their fire side and immediately holding his hands out for warmth.

‘Are they coming?’ Jaune asked, and Oscar nodded.

Nora craned her neck to see team RWBY settling down one the ground by a different fire. She frowned as she watched Yang rest her elbows on her propped-up knees, blankly watching the fire, the others talking quietly among themselves.

‘I guess they’re still dealing with it,’ Nora said uncertainly, a little hurt they hadn’t come to join them. Since reuniting, team RWBY had somehow been more distant. She turned away and back to her own team, of which Oscar had become an honorary member, despite all the arguing about team names. She could see that Jaune was also watching them with interest, something solemn in his expression.

The fire popped and crackled as Nora tried to silently communicate with Ren, tilting her head in Jaune’s direction. Ren pursed his lips thoughtfully, as he assessed their friend. Neither of them had to wait long before Jaune spoke his mind.

‘Is there…’ He began, still watching team RWBY, ‘Do you think there’s something going on with them?’

Nora bit her lip and shared a look with Ren, who seemed equally unsure of what to say. Jaune continued regardless.

‘Something feels off. They’ve been so private lately. I don’t know if we should be worried.’ Nora saw the way his hand rested on his backpack. Inside, the pulsing blue relic was wrapped in pyjamas to full the glow.

‘We’ve just had separate missions lately,’ Ren assured him. ‘It made sense to split up into teams to find a way to Atlas. And they had been separated for such a long time, there was a lot of tension to resolve there.’

‘You’ve just gotten used to having Ruby around since we started our journey to Mistral,’ Nora added, drumming her fingers against the log.

‘Do you think they’re keeping stuff from us?’ Jaune asked honestly, looking away from the others. Nora glanced back over to where they sat, watching Ruby and Weiss talk earnestly, while Yang rested her head on Blake’s shoulder.

‘I don’t know,’ she replied equally honestly. ‘They have a lot of personal things they need to deal with. It makes sense that they wouldn’t share that with us.’

‘It’s not like they told us everything they were up to at Beacon either,’ Ren pointed out.

‘Yeah, you’re right,’ Jaune sighed, rubbing the back of his head. ‘I just thought it was different now that we all knew the big secret. Like we were all in this together.’

‘Well, why don’t you talk to them?’ Oscar asked quietly, gazing into the burning wood, ‘It’s not as though we’ve had all that much time to give each other a rundown of anything non-mission related.’ He seemed dazed and distant, staring deeply into the fire.

‘Hey, are you okay Oscar?’ Nora asked tentatively. He blinked and looked away from the flames, pulling his hands back into his lap.

‘Hmm? Yes, I… I think so.’

-

Despite its gleaming exterior, the airship’s inner cabins were starkly similar to other cargo ships of Atlas. A dulled bronze metal stomach hidden beneath a flashy eye-catching facade. Based on its rounded, bulging shape, much like a creep grimm that had gorged itself on easy prey, and its four short, flat wings, Weiss could tell it was a transport ship, designed more with capacity in mind than fancy features. The lacking interior design could only further attest to that conclusion. However, the effort gone into its polished, blindingly-white external shell had given her pause in her judgement.

_ Likely an Atlas Military cargo ship _ , she contemplated, picturing her sister’s domineering aircraft.  _ Needs to look good in the fleet, but functionally designed for transporting goods. _

It certainly had fit them all quite easily, though not comfortably. With only three compartments – cockpit, engine room, and hold – they were forced to sit among tatty wooden crates at the back of the ship, while Qrow had stayed up in the cockpit to converse with Briar. Weiss wasn’t sure what more they could have to say to each other considering the previous day had had them shut away in a tent, not to be disturbed. She pressed her lips together with dissatisfaction.

She sat primly on the top of a crate, one leg crossed over the other, feeling the splintered edges digging into her recently repaired dress. In times of uncertainty, Winter’s advice was easily called forth from the back of her mind: ‘Never let anyone see when you are in doubt. You must always carry yourself as though you are so self-assured, and none will question you’. Yang had summarised this as: ‘Fake it ‘til you make it,’ which seemed to clarify things for Ruby, but rather detracted from her sister’s eloquence.

And so, she put Winter’s words into action and tried her best to poise herself as though she weren’t currently mid-air on a direct route to Solitas and all the problems she had left behind. Beside her, Ruby watched Jaune and Nora playfully tease Ren, but she had a feeling that her friend wasn’t really paying attention. A hand reached out and rested upon Weiss’ own, where they were clasped in her lap.

‘Any better than yesterday?’ Ruby asked quietly.

Weiss paused, and noncommittally tilted her head back and forth. ‘In all honesty, not really.’

‘We can try and talk to your father…’ Ruby began, the first of the same suggestions she had posed yesterday, hoping to ease Weiss’ concerns.

Weiss sighed. ‘Ruby. We talked about this. He’s not someone you can reason with. Especially because we can’t actually tell him anything about what’s going on.’

‘Well, then we need some other kind of plan!’ Came the emphatic response. ‘We can prepare for this like it’s an exam.’

Weiss raised her eyebrows, the effect somewhat diminished by the sudden rocking of the ship as it hit turbulence. Her clasped hands became more of a clench, held stiff for longer than she intended. Ruby’s fingers gently squeezed until she released a little.

‘The turbulence has passed, Weiss.’

‘Thank you, I know.’ Weiss watched Jaune flick a rubber band at Nora. Yang sat on the floor, leaning back against a crate, staring at her scroll, Blake beside her reading the silver story book intently. Oscar dozing off beside Ren. 

‘How am I supposed to prepare?’ She asked, changing the subject. It wasn’t difficult; Ruby had been extremely enthusiastic about preparation and plans lately, and Weiss couldn’t help but feel it stemmed from the amount of uncertainty surrounding Salem and Ozpin’s ambiguity.

Ruby lightly released her hands and turned to sit cross-legged on top of the crate, facing Weiss head on. Weiss rolled her eyes and also turned. ‘Well, say he finds out you’re in Atlas.’

‘That’s almost a given.’

‘Hush. He finds out, and he confronts you about running away. What do you do?’

Weiss bit her lip. ‘I don’t know. That’s the point.’

Ruby sat up straight, trying to take her most authoritative pose.  _ Hm, seems like I’m not the only one trying to seem self-assured _ , Weiss thought wryly, but patiently waited for Ruby to speak.

‘What do you want?’

She frowned. ‘I just told you, you dolt. I don’t know.’

‘Ah,’ Ruby wagged a finger like a school teacher, and Weiss’ scowl deepened. ‘You said you didn’t know what you wanted to do, not that you didn’t know what you wanted.’

‘Elaborate.’

‘What do you want? Do you want to be back in your father’s good books? Do you want your inheritance back? Do you eventually want control of the Schnee Dust Company?’ Ruby gestured widely to an infinite horizon of possibility.

Weiss’ frown became more thoughtful, and she tapped a finger against her knee. ‘I always assumed I would take over the company. At least since Winter was disinherited, I mean. But I attended Beacon to make a difference.’

‘There are a lot of different ways to make a difference,’ Ruby pointed out softly. ‘Being a huntress is just one. And realistically, probably not as effective as running a billion-lien international export company.’

‘Yes,’ Weiss agreed, her eyes absently tracing the tears in Ruby’s cloak. ‘My father is in a position of power, and maybe he’s not the best person to have it. Are you suggesting I try and smooth over our differences for the greater good?’

Ruby shrugged, ‘Not necessarily. I mean first, there’s Salem. I would rather have you fighting with us for that. Um, whatever that means.’

Weiss scoffed, ‘Of course. Hardly anything else is as important at the moment, despite not knowing what we’re doing.’

‘Exactly. Smoothing things over with your father may not be so easy right now.’

‘Agreed. If I can’t provide him and the company my full attention, he will likely take it as an affront.’

‘We could try damage control though? If that’s what you want?’

Weiss tapped her finger again. Once, twice; a conductor’s tempo pacing her thoughts. ‘I don’t know that I have much of an desire to reconnect with my father. On a personal level that is.’

‘And your mother?’ Ruby asked cautiously, while picking at the loose splinters in the wood. Weiss shrugged quickly.  _ Perhaps too quickly. _

‘Mother detached herself long ago,’ she replied evenly.

A staticky screech blared out across the hold, and everyone jumped, looking around for the source of the noise. The crackling phased in and out before Briar’s scratchy voice emerged and Weiss spotted the speaker in the corner of the hold.

‘Ladies and Gents, we have now entered Solitas airspace and are a quarter of the way through our flight. If you look out your windows…’ He gave a hacking laugh, ‘Hee hee, I forgot there were no windows back there. Well, we’ve passed some real nice floating rock formations. The ocean is awfully sparkly. Hey Qrow, what d’you reckon those clouds look like?’ An abominable screech echoed around the hold as the feed was cut off, likely by a grumpy Qrow.

Weiss rolled her eyes. Two hours in, and six more to go.

-

_ Earlier that day. _

‘Here.’ Yang stretched her hand out as she sat back down beside Blake near the fire. Weiss and Ruby were talking quietly across from them. Weiss seemed…  _ Upset? _

She looked at the object Yang held out to her. ‘A scroll?’

‘Mmm. New number.’ Came the clarification.

‘Oh,’ Blake gazed down, sliding the device open, ‘Thank you. Where did you… ?’ Yang jerked a thumb back at a wild-looking woman with a table of goods by one of the tents, enticing passers-by towards her.

‘I checked it all worked. You can get rid of the old one now,’ Yang said quietly, flames reflected in her eyes. It was early in the morning, the day after they had arrived at the camp. None of them had really been able to sleep and had collectively decided to get up before the sun had properly risen. The camp was bustling at all hours of the day, and it hadn’t been too unusual for them to sit by one of the regularly stoked fires.

‘Thank you,’ Blake said again, trying to emphasise her appreciation. Yang’s bemused smile made her think she succeeded.

‘You’re okay?’ Yang asked as she leaned back on to the heels of her palms, legs crossed before her.

Blake gave her a rueful smile and mimicked her posture. ‘Yeah. I am. I…’ She turned her gaze upward to the muted grey sky, a cool morning breeze blowing across her torso while her legs drew heat from the flames. ‘I came to terms with who he was. The things he’s done. I was caught off-guard, and it really threw me. But honestly, everything he does just solidifies who he is in my mind.’ She tilted her head to look at Yang, who was staring pensively into the fire, the flickering visible in the golden highlights of her hair. ‘He’s a monster. I won’t ever forgive him for what he did. To you.’ The slightest twitch flickered in the corner of the lips, and Blake thought maybe something she’d said had been soothing.

‘And you?’ She continued, ‘Are you okay? Y’know, after…’

‘I don’t think I want to talk about it,’ Yang replied quietly, and abruptly snorted with self-deprecating laughter, ‘Man, I think we’re both going to be over the weight-limit on this flight. Far too much baggage.’

Blake let out an involuntary snort of her own before they both dissolved into giggles as she gave Yang a playful shove.

‘Hey guys,’ they both turned to face the voice, and Weiss and Ruby paused their conversation. Jaune was standing there, flanked by Nora and Ren. ‘Can we talk?’-

-

Blake pried the next pages apart, the glossy printing stiff and stuck from disuse. It was only a short novel, but she read and re-read each page, looking for clues or any way to be helpful. She also had to admit that she was trying to distract herself from the cold, hard floor of the air ship, and the uncomfortable cross-hatching of anti-slip bumps that were digging into her backside. Yang sat beside her, helpfully setting up Blake’s new scroll with all her contacts and data. 

They had given the others a somewhat abridged version of recent events, filling them in about Ruby’s eyes and her rapidly progressing abilities, Weiss’ upcoming struggle with her father, Blake’s sighting of Adam and future conflict, and Yang had even gone as far as to admit to Raven’s actions in Haven, and her appearances.

The others had been taken aback at how much they’d missed, but Blake had felt lightened after recounting their struggles to a third party. It gave a new perspective, and Blake suspected that team RWBY had been unconsciously weighing each other down with their problems. 

Despite the amount they had had to catch up on, most of the morning had been spent talking about Salem and Atlas, if only in repetitive circles until it petered out into frustrated silence.

Blake glanced around the hold. She could still feel the underlying tension in all of them as they grew closer to their destination without any more clarity about their objective. The only one who didn’t seem on edge was Oscar, that was more due to the fatigue that had plagued him over the last couple of days. Yet another source of concern for them.

‘Ta da!’ Yang brandished the new scroll before Blake’s eyes.

‘All done?’ She asked, amused at Yang’s antics. She slipped the silver book back into her pack.

‘Yup. All your contacts have now been moved over. All your photos and stuff too.’ Yang gave a cheeky smile. ‘I was hoping to find something embarrassing, but your scroll is very boring.’

Blake stuck her tongue out. ‘I wouldn’t have given it to you if there was anything embarrassing to find.’ She took the new scroll and watched the screen light up with its new wallpaper - a mischievous photo of Yang from their Beacon days.  _ Looks like she did go through my photos. _ Blake’s lips twitched in a smile. ‘Thank you for copying everything over.’

Yang shrugged nonchalantly. ‘Don’t need this one anymore then?’ She asked, holding up the old scroll.

Blake shook her head. ‘No, I don’t want him to be able to contact me at all.’

A sudden grinding and snapping of metal, and Yang revealed several shattered pieces of the old scroll from within her metallic fist. Blake’s surprise quickly shifted into amusement at Yang’s decidedly smug expression.

‘Well, you definitely did a good job of getting rid of it.’

‘Yeah, I really  _ crushed it _ .’ Blake laughed at Yang’s dumb joke and slipped the new scroll into her pocket, before leaning her head against Yang’s shoulder.

There was a loud crackling and high-pitched whine and that made Blake wince and fold her ears flat. Yang nudged her and pointed to an intercom speaker in the corner of the room. Briar’s voice emerged to give them an update on entering Solitas airspace, and the room collectively rolled their eyes at his goofy humour.

‘Hmm.’

Blake lifted her head to see Yang chewing on her lip, her previously light-hearted demeanour replaced by a dour expression. ‘What is it?’

‘I wonder what they’re talking about up there.’ Blake watched Yang’s hands curl into fists. ‘I mean, we all agree that it’s crazy how little we know about what’s going on.’

‘You think they’re talking about something important? I don’t think your uncle would talk to Briar about Salem.’

‘Yeah. You’re right.’ Yang still seemed agitated.

‘You don’t like just sitting here, do you?’

Yang’s smile was abashed. ‘No, I don’t. I want to do something.’

Blake looked around the room, everyone seemed distracted with their own conversations or entertainments. ‘Let’s go then.’

‘What?’

Blake grabbed Yang’s hand and they slipped out the door beside them into the short corridor with a single door at the end. The room was vibrating a little with the workings of the engine and they quickly moved into the corridor-proper beyond the door. As soon as they exited the antechamber, the loud rattling and whirring of the engine and communications room beside them echoed through the hall. Blake had heard it faintly in the distance before but hadn’t realised just how much sound the walls of the hold blocked out. She moved quietly forward, Yang at her heels. There was another door before them at the end of the corridor, gunmetal grey with a small hazy window like the others. Blake peeked through and saw a second antechamber, likely blocking the sound of the engine from the cockpit.

She turned to Yang, who was peering into the window of the door on the left, where dozens of gauges and levers and blinking lights lay. They exchanged glances, and Blake slowly slid the door to the antechamber open. The door moved with silent ease; a testament to Atlas engineering, and they slipped in quickly.

The sound was once again muffled as the heavy door on smooth hinges shut behind them. Yang edged towards the window and then quickly ducked out of view.

‘Are they in there?’ Blake silently mouthed. Yang responded with a nod. Blake bit her lip and looked around their tiny room. It was entirely blank, smooth metal panels on all sides. She half-heartedly pointed at the door and gave a weak shrug. Yang raised an eyebrow. They could try and open the door and hope that neither Qrow nor Briar turn around and notice.

Yang very, very slowly gripped the door handle. So far, all the doors on the ship they had encountered slid open with a pressured latching system. Blake hoped that this one would open with the same quiet rush of air.  _ Worst comes to worst, we’ll make up an excuse. _ The door inched out, gentle bursts of air rushing into the new space, and they could hear laughter on the other side. Blake let out a silent sigh of relief that they hadn’t seem to have heard. Yang turned and gave a nervous grin. The door was ajar just a few inches, but it was enough to catch most of their words.

‘Ah and that time the gormless twerp tried to balance those empty beer bottles! You remember Qrow?’ Briar and Qrow seemed to be falling over themselves laughing, reminiscing about old friends. Blake gently dropped herself to the ground to rest her back against the wall. If they were going to eventually be caught, she’d rather not have strained her legs crouching. Yang sat against the opposite wall and pulled a silly face at Blake. Seemed they were in for the long haul.

-

By the time on Blake’s new scroll, nearly an hour had past while they sat in their tiny one-metre square box. They had both received a few messages from the gang about their whereabouts, but they had both ambiguously responded with ‘snooping’. It wouldn’t be hard for anyone to guess their location, considering the airship had few hiding places. Still, Qrow hadn’t emerged from the cockpit to discover them, too caught up in remembering old places and events that Yang hadn’t heard before. From the way he described it, it seemed that growing up in an unruly camp made for a lively and devilish childhood, with the sort of friends and family that she couldn’t imagine giving up.

After thirty minutes with no noteworthy discoveries, Yang had been ready to give up, having spent most of the time messaging Blake or competing in various two-player games on a scroll. The only thing preventing her from leaving was the slightest intonation that they were skirting around a certain subject, Briar always pressing a little forward, and Qrow always angling around.

‘So tell me Qrow, how’d this mess come about?’ Yang paused their game, and quickly forfeited, though Blake’s ears were already trained towards the door.

‘What mess, Briar?’

‘I’d prefer not to be played for a fool. I’m doing you a pretty big favour, one that could cost me a valuable asset if it goes south.’ There was a long pause as though Briar had been hoping he wouldn’t have to say more. Qrow didn’t give him the luxury. ‘You want to tell me what you and Raven fought about?’

‘Not particularly,’ Qrow replied, but there was a hint of surrender in his voice.

‘Well, tell me how she ended up with a kid then.’ Briar jumped tactics. ‘I can certainly see her as a “use ‘em and lose ‘em” sort, but nine months of pregnancy isn’t something taken on casually. Not something I would ever have imagined from her. Not the way I knew her.’

Qrow gave a long sigh, and Yang held her breath, barely restraining herself from inching closer. ‘She wasn’t always the way you knew her. There was a period of time, brief in the scheme of things I guess, where she wasn’t quite so… hard.’

‘At your fancy school, right?’

‘Mmm.’ Qrow seemed unwilling to volunteer information, but Briar appeared to have no qualms about pushing.

‘Who’s the father then? Do you know?’

‘Yeah. You remember Tai?’

‘Who? From the Carnelian’s time?’ A pause. ‘Oh. You mean when you runts stopped by on one of your missions?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Blonde guy? Though I suppose it goes without saying after seeing the kid.’

‘Yeah that’s the one.’

‘ _ He’s  _ the father? _ ’ _ Briar’s voice was so incredulous that Yang felt offended on behalf of her dad. ‘Raven could barely stand him. And honestly, he seemed like a bit of a dunce.’

Qrow chuckled at that, and Yang sulked at the slight against her father. ‘He is a bit, but one of my close friends. A really good guy.’

‘He could be noblest knight this side of Vale, and Raven would have scoffed at his pretentiousness. Since when does she give a damn about something like “good”.’

‘Briefly, she loved him, I suppose.’ Yang placed her hand calmly over her mouth to stifle any sound.

‘Hah, you don’t sound so sure.’

‘I’m not. I have no idea what they saw in each other. Well, I have some idea how two hormonal teenagers got together, but they were a bad match. It was never going to last.’

Briar laughed. ‘I could tell you that, and from only meeting the guy once. So why the kid?’

‘Tai wanted kids,’ Qrow said simply. ‘Always had. A real nurturing type. He was excited when he found out.’

‘You saying he talked her into it?’ There was sheer disbelief in Briar’s voice, and Yang could feel Blake’s eyes on her. ‘I can’t imagine anyone talking Raven into anything. The most argumentative person I’ve ever met.’

‘No, no. That’s not what I’m saying,’ Qrow sighed again, clearly unwilling to dredge up the past. Yang felt it was hardly surprising, considering how long they’d spent specifically not talking about it. ‘I’m just saying that… they happened to be in a good spot. For the first part there was a lot of indifference - more of a relationship in name than in reality – but, there were a few months where they seemed to actually care about each other. Raven let her guard down a lot at Beacon, but it took a lot longer to drop her defences and let Tai be more than some guy she was stringing along.’

‘Hmm she did seem… different. That one time I saw you all. Lighter.’

‘Yeah. Then for a few months, she seemed to actually put effort into the relationship.’

‘Which coincided with the pregnancy?’

‘Exactly. They were in a good place. Tai really wanted to be a dad. I still don’t know how, but Raven let Tai explain to her all the ways it could be great. I’d say it was a momentary lapse in her judgement, but it lasted for several months. For a while, Raven let herself believe in the happy family dream.’

‘But clearly not forever. Hadn’t heard of a little Branwen running about camp.’

Yang hadn’t even realised that she’d drawn closer to the door until Blake gently placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from colliding with the door frame and giving away their hiding spot.

‘First three months were sunshine and roses, and the last six months were re-enactments from the depths of hell.’ Yang felt ice forming in her stomach, almost unwilling to hear what had happened, at long last. ‘They way they fought Briar, like they were trying slice each other up with their words.’

‘Why’d the sun go down?’

‘Missions,’ Qrow said simply, and Yang could tell that despite the free-flowing conversation, there were some things he was still holding back. ‘Simply enough, she didn’t agree with the missions we were doing and the way we were doing them. Maybe pregnancy hormones too. Maybe a combination of the missions and the sudden realisation that there was going to be a baby in the mix. Hard to say. But she had no problem lashing out at all of us.’

‘Here I thought it was going to be something that guy did. Not the case?’

‘No, not at all. Raven fought with all of us. I mean, I mostly got scowls and pointed jibes because I think she realised I was lost to whatever her cause was. It was Summer and Tai that really bore the brunt of her anger. It got worse as the months went on.’

Yang’s heart raced at the mention of her mother.  _ Other mother. _ Each having held distinctly separate parts of her life, Yang had never really known what their relationship had been like. She was starting to get the impression they hadn’t gotten along. There was a pause, and Yang thought she could hear liquid sloshing.  _ He’s been drinking _ , she realised, though unsurprised,  _ explains why he’s talking so openly. _

‘Their last fight,’ Qrow continued, seemingly lost in his thoughts, ‘was brutal. Summer and I had been going to meet them. Showed up out the front of the house and could hear their yelling from inside. She stormed out, extremely pregnant, spat a few choice words at us and then we didn’t hear from her for a day or two.’

Yang held her breath, picturing Briar doing the same, both waiting for Qrow to continue.

‘Next thing we heard was that she’d given birth. We saw her at the hospital, and after that... I didn’t see her again until a few years later.’

‘And the girl?’

‘Left her and vanished. And when Raven doesn’t want to be found, you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of finding her.’

‘Hmm, a tale of anger, betrayal, and abandonment. Fits Raven perfectly.’

‘Yeah, well. You wanted to know.’

They dropped into silence, the dull vibrations of the ship filling the gap, and Yang’s heart ached. Concocted images swirled around her mind. Her mother and father arguing, her mother and… no, Raven and her mother fighting. Storming out, disappearing.  _ Anger, betrayal, and abandonment. _ Yang could barely feel the hand on her shoulder as tears began to burn in the corner of her eyes.  _ That’s all she is. She’s just an angry person who picks fights wherever she can. _ She pressed her face into a white shoulder. Dark hair tickled her neck, as arms came up around her back.

The ship rumbled against bracing turbulence, and Yang dimly heard a faint whoosh of air. She pulled away from the embrace and glanced to the gap in the cockpit door. The door hadn’t moved. Turning back, she saw Blake having an emphatic nonverbal conversation with Weiss and Ruby about keeping quiet. Yang quickly dashed her eyes on her glove and stood, trying to make more room in their tiny alcove.

‘Did you say something?’ She heard Qrow ask, sounding a little more tipsy than he had just a moment ago.

‘Me? No?’ Briar replied. ‘I thought you said something.’ They all froze, each one quickly trying to think of an excuse for being crammed into the small space.

‘How long have we been flying? Maybe I should check on the others,’ Qrow murmured, and they could clearly hear metallic ‘thunks’ as his feet clumsily met the floor. They each made rapid eye contact, gesturing confusedly to each of the doors in almost pantomimic ridiculousness.

A crackling static burst into the cockpit and cut across their miming, halting their frenzied activity.

‘One, two, three. Transmission preparing to commence. All active units please respond.’ A crackly, cold, and somewhat familiar feminine voice rang out tinnily across the cockpit. A small gasp emerged from their hidden group and Yang quickly turned to find the source.

‘What’s that?’ She could hear Qrow ask Briar, and she snapped her head back to the cockpit, almost dizzying herself.

‘Atlas Military Transmission,’ the gruff voice replied. ‘When we get within a certain range of the Atlas Military Comms Towers, the ship picks up the signals. Came pre-programmed for the frequency.’

Suddenly, Yang felt herself shoved aside into the wall as Weiss pushed forwards and impatiently knocked on the cockpit door and sliding it open without waiting for a response. Judging from Blake and Ruby’s panicked faces, neither of them knew what she was doing either.

‘Excuse me,’ Weiss began, stepping cleanly into the room, ‘we were just-‘

A high-pitched microphone whine interrupted her, and the crackling voice burst into life again from the small speaker inset into the dashboard. ‘The Eastern towers are up and running again. Eighty percent civilian clearance complete.’

‘That’s my sister!’ Weiss called out, bursting with excitement, and Yang suddenly realised where she recognised the voice.

‘Standby-ships to remain in area to pick up refugee transmission, coordinate transfers to Mantle. All other Atlesian Units from the fourth division under Krema are to report to the West check-in to collect duties. Transmission end.’ The static suddenly cut-out and the speaker went dead.

‘Can we transmit back?’ Weiss surged forwards to the console. ‘Winter would surely recognise my voice. We could get around Atlas border control.’

Briar chuckled and pointed to a crater in the dash with a couple of loose wires hanging out, ‘Nope, we cut out the transmitter after one of my dumb idiots leant on it and couldn’t provide the access codes to the chap who responded. Nearly got us shot out of the sky.’

Qrow furrowed his brow. ‘The east is where we were planning on landing, right?’

Briar nodded, his hands firmly attached to the joysticks. ‘One of my main contact points is in a village to the east of Mantle. It has a comms tower. The only tower for miles too.’

‘Uh, it sounds abandoned,’ Ruby piped up. ‘Winter implied that all the Atlas personnel were moving out of that area.’

‘Well, that’s good for us,’ Briar replied cheerfully. ‘The Atlas registration chip embedded in this ship means we appear as an authorised vehicle on the passive border scans, but if an actual person were to catch sight of us, they’d take real issue with a bandit-run military craft.

‘But they’d recognise Weiss,’ Ruby pointed out.

‘I think,’ Qrow gently interjected, ‘what Briar is trying to say is that we’d be shot down before we’d get a chance.’ Yang heard Weiss’ small intake of breath. ‘We’ll land east of Mantle as planned. Use the tower to see if we can make contact like the refugees. At least then once we’re around other people we can plead our case.’

‘Shot down?’ Blake asked incredulously, ‘Just like that?’

‘Yep,’ Briar popped his ‘p’. ‘Atlas is really trigger-happy at the moment. Very twitchy leadership.’

‘Hey, General Ironwood is doing the best he can,’ Weiss defended indignantly, crossing her arms.

‘Eh, regardless-‘

The sound of the cabin door suddenly being thrown aside, banging on its rails, interrupted Briar’s retort. They all whirled around, though Briar span immediately when he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be directing the ship. Ren stood short of breath in the doorway.

‘Come quickly. It’s Oscar,’ He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and corrected himself, ‘Ah, maybe it’s Oscar.’ He disappeared back down to the hold, the rattling engine still vibrating through the open door. Yang shared bewildered looks with her team, each equally surprised to see Ren so unbalanced. They all dashed to the hold, Qrow close on their tails.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry again for being late, but I am definitely still updating this story!  
> This is still unbeta'd so I apologise for any mistakes.

Ruby was the first there, her speed an advantage even over such a short distance. She leapt over the crate in her path and landed next to Nora, who was kneeling beside Oscar. In the wake of Ren’s distressed proclamation, Ruby had been expecting to see Oscar mid-seizure, or throwing up, or bleeding out, or spouting heraldic prophecies while possessed by the ghost of the ship’s first murder victim.  _ Okay that last one is pretty unlikely. _

Oscar, however, seemed to be going through the motions of just waking up from an ill-timed nap. He was somewhat dazed and lethargic, which was in keeping with his bizarre fatigue of the past couple of days. Jaune was sitting close by, carefully watching as Oscar tried to get his bearings.

‘What’s wrong?’ Ruby asked hesitantly as the others emerged into the hold, gathering around.

‘He started… well, he started talking,’ Nora seemed too preoccupied, but her words had Ruby revisiting a certain hypothetical ghost possession.

‘He was talking like Ozpin,’ Jaune explained, still carefully monitoring Oscar as he moved to sit upright.

Qrow pushed to the front and crouched down beside the partially-dormant figure. ‘Oz? Is that you?’

Oscar,  _ or Ozpin? _ , cleared his throat and hummed as though testing his vocal chords. ‘Mmmm.’

He had barely said anything, but Ruby could hear the same intonation that the others had picked up on. She knitted her fingers together anxiously, but her mind was already whirling with the dozens of questions that had been on her lips since Haven.

‘Oz?’ Qrow repeated again, before experimentally shaking his shoulder.

‘What are you doing?’ Weiss hissed. ‘He could be concussed!’ Qrow shrugged back defiantly.

‘Hm. It’s alright,’ Oscar/Ozpin finally said evenly. Ruby felt silly for having expected his voice to carry the rasp of a coma patient.

‘Professor Ozpin?’ Nora tried to clarify.

Oscar/Ozpin gave a concise, decisive nod. ‘Yes.’ The room breathed a collective sigh of relief. ‘My apologies for being out of sorts, it’s taking me a while to get a firm grasp of Oscar’s memories from my brief lapse.’

‘Brief?’ Jaune exclaimed, ‘You were gone for a whole month.’

Ozpin chuckled, regaining his stiff posture and matured expression. Ruby was once again thrown by the sight of Oscar’s body taking on such formal mannerisms. ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right. And we, I presume are mid-flight to Atlas? Oscar’s memories of the last couple of days have been a little disarrayed, perhaps to do with my re-emergence.’

‘Yes,’ Qrow confirmed, sitting back on the ground and stretching one leg out. His prior tipsiness had been seemingly forced under control by the brief panic. ‘We have the relic and we’re taking it to Atlas.’

‘You woke up just in time,’ Yang said evenly. Ruby could tell from the smile that her sister was aiming for friendly, but the hardness of her eyes told a different story.

Ozpin surveyed their group, his careful gaze landing on each in turn before ending on Blake. ‘Ah, Miss Belladonna. You have, of course, re-joined our ranks. And without your bow I see.’ Blake self-consciously lifted a hand to her ears. ‘Good riddance, I say.’

‘Yes,’ Blake replied simply. ‘It was time to come back.’ The small talk hung heavy in the air. The initial shock and relief at Ozpin’s re-appearance had dissipated, and the crushing ambiguity of the past month came floating to the top. Ruby couldn’t stand to ignore the elephant any longer.

‘Where are we taking the relic?’ She blurted out. ‘Why are we going to Atlas?’ She felt everyone’s gaze on her, but the way they each turned back to Ozpin expectantly reinforced the point; they had all been craving answers. Qrow, for his part, seemed rather sheepish for needing one.

Ozpin appeared surprised at her sudden outburst, but quickly regained his composure. ‘Oh, well of course. I suppose I disappeared before I could clarify.’ He stood and carefully perched himself on the edge of a crate, one-hand absentmindedly reaching to adjust glasses he no longer wore. ‘You see, the vault at Haven is clearly no longer safe or locked; it would take a great deal of power that I simply no longer possess to reseal it. So, naturally, we must secure a new location for the relic. Somewhere out of Salem’s grasp.’

‘And there’s somewhere like that in Atlas?’ Weiss asked hesitantly, clasping her hands before her.

Ozpin inclined his head. ‘Not so much somewhere, as  _ someone. _ ’ He propped his cane out between his knees and rested both hands on it, silent for a long time.

‘Um, and who is this person?’ Ruby finally asked as she bounced on the balls of her feet in nervous anticipation, vocalising everyone’s thoughts.

‘Well, she’s an old friend of mine.’

Qrow started, ‘You don’t mean Iona do you?’ Ruby’s gaze darted back between the two, watching Qrow stand.

‘Who’s Iona?’ Blake asked, stepping forward.

Qrow cleared his throat, and Ruby thought maybe he seemed a little more exasperated than usual, though Blake’s question had been a legitimate one. ‘She’s the Winter Maiden. The oldest living maiden in fact. She must be in her sixties by now,’ Qrow turned to Ozpin for confirmation, who again merely inclined his head.

‘More maidens,’ Jaune muttered, and Ruby could see Yang surreptitiously nodding in agreeance with his dissatisfaction.

‘And this woman can help us with the relic?’ Ruby asked, watching Jaune place a protective hand over the bag.

‘Indeed. Iona is one of few maidens who’s lived to be quite so old. And as such, she is very experienced and highly skilled,’ Ozpin smiled up at them.

Qrow, however, crossed his arms across his chest. ‘Some might consider the fact that she’s lived so long is more attributed to her notable absence over the last decade or two. She’s been laying low, unfindable.’

Ozpin also stood, though his new figure could hardly match Qrow’s in stature. ‘I believe we’ll be able to find a way of communicating with her. I know she has been staying close to Atlas.’

‘And we can trust her?’ Yang questioned pointedly, memories of Lionheart clearly on her mind.

Ozpin rested his hands upon his cane and met Yang’s gaze. ‘I have known Iona for a very long time and trusted her with a great deal before. She is the only one who has both the power and the integrity to protect the relic.’

Qrow began to pace, his hands thrust deep into his pockets. ‘You’re saying you want to give her the relic? You’re going to entrust it to her alone?’

‘As I said, Iona is trustworthy-‘

Qrow abruptly stopped pacing and ran a hand through his hair. ‘It’s not about her trustworthiness. Salem will be coming for the Relic of Creation next, locked away in the Atlas vault. She’ll be searching for Iona next anyway…’

‘Maybe it’s not such a good idea to put two relics in the same spot. Where Salem can get them with one stone,’ Ruby finished.

Her uncle nodded. ‘We’d just be putting this relic directly in her path.’

‘Iona is a very capable individual,’ Ozpin replied calmly.

‘But Salem now has both the Fall and the Spring Maidens.’ Ruby’s eyes involuntarily grew wide. She had somehow managed to forget that Qrow and Ozpin still didn’t know the true course of events at Haven. ‘Iona may have significant experience as a maiden, but Cinder and Raven together are a force to be reckoned with.’

Ruby made eye contact with Weiss, and they both looked at Yang, who was already having a non-verbal conversation with Blake. She seemed hesitant, and Blake’s expression might have been aiming for comforting. Ruby caught Yang’s eye and tried to convey both sympathy and encouragement with only the use of her eyebrows, while Weiss’ almighty eye roll played out in her peripheral. It was then that she realised everyone else was staring at them.

‘What the heck are you doing with your faces?’ Qrow asked, bewildered, as he surveyed their second pantomime performance for the flight.

‘Um, nothing!’ Ruby replied, a little too quickly and a little too upbeat. She cringed. And then cringed again when she realised the first cringe likely gave away the lie. Qrow’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

‘You want to try that again?’ He asked with his deep rasping voice, crossing his arms. The ship rumbled around them. Ruby looked nervously to Yang who was biting her lip. Qrow’s gaze, and the rest of the group’s, turned to Yang expectantly.

For her part, Yang dropped her gaze to her fidgeting fingers and sighed. ‘I may have omitted some information about the events at Haven…’

-

‘Why would you lie about something like that?’ Qrow had begun pacing again while Yang had recounted the true sequence of events in the Haven vault, and had continued to noisily thud his feet across the steel floor as she had confessed her subsequent encounters with her mother. This anger was familiar to Yang, reminding her of the lost, exhausted little girl in the middle of a monster-filled forest she had once been, cowering behind her uncle’s cloak. She had felt terrible then, but even as a child she could tell his anger at her mistakes had been tempered with concern.

‘She didn’t want to be involved,’ Yang said softly. Most of the others had drifted away and sat off to the side, still within earshot. Ozpin however, stayed close, his expression curious. ‘She let me take the relic because she didn’t want to take part in this war against Salem. I didn’t want to drag her back into it. I don’t know, I guess I just still haven’t made my mind up.’

‘So she’s not after the relic?’ Qrow’s hand was rummaging deep in his shirt. ‘This whole time I’ve been wondering why she hasn’t leapt out at us and taken it,’ he muttered mostly to himself.

‘How interesting,’ Ozpin interjected. ‘Raven is the Spring Maiden. And for at least the last ten years. That’s quite a long period of time as far as maidens are concerned.’

Qrow stopped pacing and turned to face Ozpin, but the young face was impassive. He pulled out his flask and tilted it back and forth, listening closely to gauge how empty it was. He shrugged and took a long drink anyway. Wiping his mouth clean with his sleeve, he capped the flask and stowed it away. ‘Raven is the Spring Maiden and, in theory, she’s done away with Cinder. Salem has no maidens at all then.’

‘It makes Iona an even more viable solution to our predicament then,’ Ozpin responded absently, reading the labels on the crates.

Qrow ran a hand through his hair, still seemingly coming to grips with the bombshell Yang dropped. ‘I still don’t know how I feel about entrusting it to one person. If something happens to her… Why not Ironwood? He has an army. And I still don’t trust Raven…’ His sentences came out as a disjointed stream-of-consciousness. Yang almost felt as though she should withdraw from what was becoming a private the conversation. Her expression darkened when she remembered she wasn’t the only one who had been keeping secrets.

‘Ironwood seems to have enough on his plate at the moment,’ Ozpin replied, giving Qrow his full attention again. ‘Qrow, I’m going to need you to trust me on this.’ She frowned at the way his words seemed familiar, and somehow wrong.

Yang watched her uncle rub the back of his head and sigh yet again, and she felt a cold curiosity seeping through her as she waited for his response. He was silent for a long moment, before finally acquiescing and nodding. ‘Alright. We’ll take it to Iona. I hope you know how to contact her.’

‘Don’t worry about that.’

But Yang felt more uncertain than before.

-

For the remaining hours of their flight, Weiss had allowed Ruby to coax her into the cabin to watch the vision of Solitas emerge from between the clouds through the broad windows. She had agreed, secretly hoping to hear her sister’s voice again, but no matter how often she glanced at the wire mesh of the radio speaker, it stayed conspicuously silent.

Blake and Yang had shoved one the crates from the hold into the cockpit, much to Briar’s ignored outrage, and used it as their personal viewing platform to take in the sights, chatting and laughing with Ruby about the itchiness of their new thermal underlayer. Weiss ran a finger along the cool brushed steel of the dashboard before her, the co-pilot’s gauges and radars ticking and pulsing beneath her hand in a rhythm that meant nothing to her. A sharp red compass needle caught the fluorescent reflection of the cabin’s overhead lights, twitching and pointing her north. To the top of the world where her home once was.

She stared absently through the glass, a quick, nervous energy making her skin tingle; a distinct chill unrelated to their proximity to the great icy continent. It had only been a year ago that she had been in almost this exact position, and yet home wasn’t calling her forth like a beacon anymore. She sat in near silence, occasionally submitting laconic contributions to her team’s conversation, when prompted. Over the last hour, Briar had begun to descend.

‘In keeping with Atlas airspace protocol and altitude restrictions,’ Weiss recited to herself, the words barely carrying sound as they left her lips. Words and sentences from childhood textbooks swam in and out of her mind’s eye. Old lessons and lectures rang out in her memory in a way that they hadn’t previously, as though the were describing a foreign place.

‘Hm?’ Ruby asked, and Weiss merely shook her head, the statement already irrelevant.

The first thing she saw was the distant cold spire of the central communications tower, Atmos Reach, ‘Where Atlas touches the sky’, six hundred metres tall, and even higher when measured from sea level. A glimpse of it between passing clouds, looking unimpressively small from such a great distance. She felt Ruby grip her upper arm excitedly.

‘Wow, Weiss look!’ She heard similar exclamations from Yang and Blake, but Weiss instead felt oddly numb upon seeing the familiar criss-crossing scaffolded structure standing stark in the darkness. If she squinted, she thought she could make out the pulsing blue light at the very tip, but it was realistically too dark and too distant to make out such details.

The clouds began to thin further as they dropped lower, and the vast white sweeping landscape opened up before them, a deep icy grey in the night. The inky black ocean slid slowly out of view beneath the aircraft as they continued their course to the east of Atlas. Solitas extended along the full length of the ship’s window, despite the distance; a mysterious glacial horizon at the top of the world. Weiss’ finger paused its movement along the dash as she took the sight in.

Atlas was easy to spot, the hazy light pollution emanating from the vast area hung in the air like an aqua neon fog, the Atmos Reach standing tall above it. Beyond the glow, Weiss could make out the sturdy city walls; a fortress of knowledge and progress.

‘Oh wow, I’ve never seen Atlas before,’ Yang murmured in awe.

‘I’ve never seen it from this angle,’ Blake agreed, and Weiss felt a coldness in her heart as she recalled many a private airship flight from her youth that started with wonder and excitement and energy. A few years later and the trips became more of a formality and one carried out in composed quiet. This view was the backdrop for every uncomfortable silence and unspoken resentment that naturally radiated when her family were confined together. The last time she had seen it, echoes of yelling and cracking concrete had accompanied it, smears of blood, shattered steel, and her injured friends superimposed over the sky.

‘They built it so high up,’ Ruby commented, eyes wide as she leaned forward.

‘It’s on the Solitas Steps. The third Step,’ Weiss absently informed them. She didn’t have to look at Ruby to picture the confused expression on her face. She audibly sighed but figured a geography lesson was hardly the worst way to spend the rest of their flight. ‘There are four plateaus of increasing height, which are named the Steps and considered a representation of Atlas’ strive for advancement and progression. It’s not so easy to make out in the dark, and with the thick forest, but you can see the base there.’ She pointed to the south-west of Atlas, at lower left of their vision, where a glacial cliff suddenly dropped off and thick pines grew at the bottom, a short distance away from a rocky shoreline where waves crashed against jutting stones. ‘That’s the first step. And at the top of that cliff, hidden amongst the forest,’ she pointed again, ‘is Mantle, the original kingdom on the second plateau.’

The others nodded along, having learnt bits and pieces of this history during their classes at Beacon. The structures of Mantle were barely visible, and Weiss knew it was somewhat due to neglect and somewhat to the rapid acceleration of technological advance since the Great War.

‘And Atlas is on the third step, the next level above Mantle?’ Ruby clarified, eyes fixated on the city.

‘Mmm, though as you can see, the height difference between the third and second levels is not so significant as between Mantle and the shore. The first cliff was one of Mantle main natural defences against grimm, and definitely made it an unappealing target for invasion in the war.’

‘And then they abandoned Mantle,’ Blake finished grimly, sounding as though she had a bad taste in her mouth.

‘Well, not officially,’ Weiss replied slowly, turning to face Blake. The expression she was met with was sceptical. ‘But that’s essentially what ended up happening,’ she admitted. ‘Industry moved away and so did residents. Housing became affordable and lower socio-economic classes moved into the region,’ she finished diplomatically.

‘Faunus,’ Blake said bluntly and Weiss winced a little.

‘What’s that?’ Ruby interjected, intensely focused on the view and barely listening to the history lecture. Weiss’ gaze followed Ruby’s finger to where she pointed to a frozen lake on the plane above Atlas, taller still that the Atmos Reach.

‘It’s the top of the Steps. That lake is called the Opal Vein, because when it’s frozen and the sunlight catches it, there’s this intense blue pattern along the cracks in the ice. And then when the aurora is out, the pattern appears as a sort of green colour.’ Despite her poor mood, Weiss found herself getting enthusiastic about the great lake. ‘It’s called the vein because the lake itself, from above, sort of looks like a crack in the mountain, like an ore vein. It’s only been called that since the Great War when the emphasis on colour became more prominent, and aircraft became more common. Once people saw it from the sky, they thought it looked like some great gemstone in continent and so changed its name. You should see it up close, during an aurora. I’ve always thought it looked beautiful when my family visited it.’ She abruptly stopped and clammed up.  _ That was oversharing, Weiss. _ She re-adjusted her posture and fixed her eyes out the window so her team couldn’t see the water welling beneath her eyelids.

‘Weiss?’ Ruby asked hesitantly, reaching a hand out for her shoulder.

‘The lake is actually in the crater of a large, very old volcano. It’s been dormant for centuries, and the crater has opened up a bit into the surrounding mountains due to water erosion,’ she continued, regaining monotonous composure in her voice, trying her best to emulate her emotionless tutors. ‘The volcano was called Mount Ouroboras before the war, because the way the water runs down the plateaus during the summer months, and returns in the winter as snow, and refreezing solidifies the lake again.’

‘It’s beautiful,’ Yang offered, and Weiss nodded firmly, not looking back at her team.

‘What about where we’re landing?’ Ruby asked. ‘Do you know anything about that?’

‘I’m not sure of the specific area we’re stopping at,’ She turned to Briar, who had put in headphones halfway through their conversation. Ruby gave him a nudge with her elbow and he pulled one out.

‘What?’ he asked gruffly.

‘Where exactly are we landing?’ Blake questioned.

‘Mmm little town, straight ahead.’ Weiss looked out the window but saw nothing of note besides the forest and mountains.

‘Can you… be more specific?’ Yang tried again.

Briar sniffed aggressively. ‘Little mining town, east of Atlas. Never really bothered to learn its name. There’s a comms tower, an outpost on the trade route, and a few houses. North, into the mountains, are a few dust mines that the residents work. That’s about it.’

Weiss pursed her lips in annoyance. ‘Well then, no Ruby, I don’t know anything about where we’re landing, but if it’s on a trade route then there will be a path between the mountains that leads to Atlas.’

‘That’s all we need then,’ Ruby said with a grin.

-

They landed on a smooth sheet of stone just large enough for the airship, among rocky hills at the base of two mountains, a foot deep in snow. As soon as the back hatch of the ship lowered to the ground an icy wind blew in and forced shivers through each of them. Briar had joined them as they made the short trek over the harsh uneven ground to where the small mining village was located.

As Blake surveyed the town it became evident that Briar hadn’t exaggerated in the slightest. At the edge of a winding wooded pass between two sharp mountain sides, a handful of small buildings spilled out into the surrounding forest. No more than fifteen houses stood there, all primitive log cabins that the residents had clearly tried to fashion into modern bungalows. A few vans and trucks were parked along the single road down the middle, buried as deeply in snow as the rest of the town, and illuminated by the warm orange street lamps. There was one large shed with a sizeable lock that she suspected was where they stored their mining exploits, but given the size of the village, it didn’t seem as though any mines in these parts were truly profitable.

The comms transmitter towered above the rest of the town, as tall as one of the nearby pines, steadily blinking with a red light by the control panel. As they approached, Blake could see that the metal in some places was warped and dented, while other panels had a new sheen to them. Looking around, she noticed that many of the small buildings had extensive impact damage, though she couldn’t tell what from. A blast of cold air pulled her from her observations as the whole team braced themselves.

‘We should head to the trading post,’ Briar said roughly, punctuating his statement with a hacking cough as they continued to trudge through the snow along the single street. ‘There ought to be someone there who can collect my crates.’

‘What do you even have in those crates?’ Jaune asked.

‘Bootlegged and reproduction clothing,’ Briar said with a grin. ‘Manufacturing in Sanus is cheaper; makes a nice little profit selling it off as brand name. Also, some stolen artisan weapons.’ Jaune’s mouth hung agape at his blatant criminality, which Briar mistook for confusion. ‘Those are from Anima though. Atlas has the tech advancements, and Vacuo has the cheap industry. Mistral has good old-fashioned craftsmanship, like your sword there. High quality gear sells for a pretty price.’ Jaune tried to subtly shift his weapon away from Briar’s keen eyes.

‘Has anyone else noticed how empty this town is?’ Nora suddenly asked, ‘I haven’t seen a single person since we got here.’ Blake realised she was right; they had walked the full breadth of the village and hadn’t come across another living soul. She tried to focus her hearing, but the frequent gusts of wind made her ears twitch uncomfortably, so she kept them pressed low to her head.

‘Yeah,’ Qrow said quietly. ‘It’s odd.’ They stopped out the front of the trade post; almost identical to the other buildings besides a small painted sign on the face, and decal in the window. Qrow walked up and thumped on the door.

Another blast of wind and Blake felt Yang huddle in closer, both of them staring down the mountain pass where the whistling air was emerging, and a deep impenetrable shadow hovered.

‘You know, I would have expected these villages to be a lot a more high-tech,’ Yang commented idly, ‘Considering Atlas’ reputation.’

Blake scowled. ‘Only Atlas gets to reap those benefits. Everywhere else on the continent essentially has to fend for themselves and rely on the occasional goodwill of the kingdom.’

‘I can’t see anyone inside,’ Ren called back out to the group from his position by the window. ‘I think this place is abandoned too.’

Briar cursed foully, startling them. ‘Yet another thing Atlas has bungled.’

Qrow turned to him, his posture more hunched than usual against the chill. ‘You know what happened here?’

‘Ah, probably the grimm,’ he waved dismissively. ‘It was becoming a problem when I was last here. Atlas was supposedly sending aid, though the comms tower was down at that time.’

It was Qrow’s turn to curse. ‘So, it turned into yet another town of refugees. Instead of posting soldiers to defend the smaller towns, Atlas’ solution was to repair the comms towers and just relocate everyone to Mantle.’

‘That’s a lot of people without their livelihoods and homes,’ Ruby said sadly, pulling her cloak tightly around her.

‘Well, I’m off then,’ Briar shrugged. ‘Perhaps I’ll see you in another decade Qrow.’ He gave a salute and began to push back through the snow towards the airship.

‘Hey wait, can’t you drop us somewhere with people?’ Weiss called out after him.

‘I did my bit,’ he called back over his shoulder. ‘I take that ship any closer to Atlas and it’s going to be noticed. This was a wasted trip for me anyhow, I’m not going to go ahead and lose my vehicle too.’ They watched him shuffle through the darkness and disappear into the trees.

‘Come on,’ Qrow finally said. ‘Some of you break into one of the abandoned houses and see if you can find food and maybe a fireplace. The rest of us will go make contact with Atlas and try and get a ship out here to pick us up.’

‘We’ll make sure there’s firewood,’ Ren agreed, and team JNPR and Oscar, who had been much more subdued since Ozpin’s return, headed to the largest of the cabins.

Blake and Yang followed in step behind Ruby and Weiss as they kicked through the snow towards the comms tower at the edge of the village. Yang nudged her gently and asked quietly, ‘You said, everywhere outside of Atlas is like this?’

Blake tried to nod but the chill forced her chin to remain close to her chest. ‘When I was with the White Fang,’ her teeth chattered, ‘before Adam, I was travelling around with my parents and it was still such a small organisation. I was just a kid but I came across a lot of little towns like this. All these overworked and exhausted miners, a lot of them faunus due to the Schnee company hiring policies. We found a lot of new recruits around Atlas, but very few in the kingdom itself.’ She watched Weiss huddled against Ruby ahead of them, her gaze fixed on the snowflake on her jacket.

‘Did it change for them?’ Yang asked, ‘After they joined the White Fang?’

Blake cringed, though she knew Yang’s question was asked innocently and out of ignorance. ‘Not really. Solitas is one of the few continents where protesting and activism never really took off,’ she continued quietly, ‘because the Schnee Company monopolises the economy here, and despite how progressive he claims to be, Jacques Schnee has always considered the faunus cheap labour.’

‘Oh.’

‘I don’t know what we’re going to do when we get to Atlas,’ Blake whispered even more quietly, unsure if her voice was audible above the wind. ‘With Weiss…’

Yang gripped her hand tightly and used it to pull their sides together. ‘We’ll work it out. I know Weiss might struggle with divided loyalty, but she always comes through and does the right thing. We’re a team.’

Blake smiled tightly, ‘Yeah. But I’m also a faunus. First and foremost.’

Yang tightened her grip but didn’t say anything else.

-

The tower creaked and whined in the wind as they approached, a slap-dash mix of metallic panels in a tall cylinder. A small parabolic dish sat at the peak, making an ominous rattling sound but seemed to hold fast, locked onto whatever its target was. The only sign that the tower was still operational was the small winking red light at roughly head-height. Ruby’s head-height anyway.

‘Oh,’ Weiss said when they reached it, looking up at the dish. ‘It’s a chained tower.’

‘What?’ Qrow asked gruffly, ‘Is that bad?’

Weiss shrugged and raised her eyebrows. ‘It doesn’t point directly to Atmos Reach. We’d just better cross our fingers that the next tower is still up too.’

‘Let’s just give it go,’ Ruby pushed impatiently as she shivered. ‘I want to get inside.’

Qrow leaned in and peered closely at the control panel which consisted of a toggle-switch and a well-worn green button. Below the panel, there were pictorial instructions indicated the procedure of flicking the open-transmission switch and holding the transit button, worn in places where the wind had eroded the tower face. He flicked the switch up and a faint crackling burst into life from the mesh speaker beside the winking light. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Don’t get too excited Rubes,’ Yang said leaning around Qrow to examine the diagrams, ‘Someone is supposed to respond when the switch goes on.’ The static conspicuously buzzed.

‘Hmm, but doesn’t sound like they’re going to,’ Qrow agreed, pressing on the green button, ‘Hello? This is… uh.’

‘Tower one-eighty-three,’ Ruby filled in, pointing to the peeling white paint near the base of the structure, stencilled with a military typeface.

‘This is tower one-eighty-three, requesting… um, communication?’ He released the button and the crackling continued.

‘Winter said these towers were up and running again in that transmission,’ Weiss said uncertainly, her shoulder locked in a slight hunch, arms held firmly across her torso.

‘Maybe it went down again,’ Ruby suggested, beginning to feel frustrated at their run of bad luck.

Qrow pressed the button again, more forcefully this time. ‘Hello? Is anyone there?’ He was answered with static. ‘This is Qrow Branwen, looking to speak to General Ironwood.’

Ruby let out a despondent sigh. ‘I guess we camp out the night in these buildings then. Maybe there’s a map in the trading post we can use to get to Atlas?’

Yang nodded, ‘There were a few pretty big cars and vans with snow chains along the road. We might be able to get one started, so we don’t have to walk.’

The small speaker suddenly burst into staticky life, and a woman’s voice emerged. ‘Tower one-eight-three, is someone there?’ Ruby jumped and huddled in closer.

Qrow jammed his finger on the transmit button. ‘Yes, this is Qrow Branwen, I need to talk to General Ironwood.’ He released the button and they waited with baited breath.

The crackling intensified, and the voice transmitted again. ‘I’m sorry, I’m not authorised to pass messages onto the General. Do you need other assistance?’ She had a very pleasant customer service voice, and despite not being able to reach Ironwood, Ruby was starting to feel hopeful.

Qrow leaned against the tower with the button pressed. ‘I have a group of nine that need transport to Atlas, can you help with that?’

‘I’m sorry, we can’t ship refugee groups directly to Atlas…’ A burst of static interrupted her sentence and they all strained to make out what she was saying. ‘… you to Mantle instead?’

‘Uh yes, can we get transport to Mantle? Does it help if I tell you that I have a Schnee with me?’ Wind buffeted the tower about and Ruby anxiously chewed her lip.

‘Sir, we get calls like that every few days. As such we can’t… preferential treatment.’ Weiss huffed in annoyance. ‘Please hold while I…’ Qrow cursed, and they prayed she wasn’t saying anything important, ‘… looking at our map, the location of tower one… no landing site. We’ll need to organise…’

Qrow jabbed the button again, ‘Could you repeat that last part? There’s no landing site?’

‘We’ll need to organise alternate travel for you. You will need… make your way to the nearest military base, about seventy kilometres…’

‘Seventy kilometres which way? There’s only one road here.’

‘The northbound road… the trade route, at the first turn off… military facility where residents were airlifted to Mantle.’

‘First turn off?’

‘Yes, that’s correct, on the right.’

‘Right, right. We’ll set out tomorrow morning, and we should be able to make contact with someone at this base right?’

‘That’s correct. They will be able to organise any necessary refugee transfers.’

‘Okay, thanks for your help.’ The static cut out and Qrow flicked back the transmission switch. ‘So we just gotta find a way to get to the base, and then we’re home free.’

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as her bones rattled in another gust of wind. ‘Finally, can we get inside now?’

-

The ticking of a stern old grandfather clock quietly penetrated the darkened room, muted by a rich maroon velvet carpet. Its rhythmic sound was filling the silence left by the sudden end of a call. In the shadows cast by a small, mustard-yellow tiffany-style desk lamp, he thoughtfully toyed with the cufflinks on his coat sleeve.

‘To Atlas after all then. With a slight detour.’ And beneath the greying moustache, one corner of his mouth began to smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the show's version of Atlas was pretty cool, but I guess we both covered the fact that Atlas sits higher than Mantle both literally and symbolically. Still, a flying city is pretty damn cool. I'm still kinda surprised at how similar this story is to the show in regards to the airship, but seeing as this is where the show cuts off, my story will definitely be going in a different direction.
> 
> Not too long now! Only a few more chapters.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still going!

Yang barged through the door, followed by a raging billow of freezing air, and slammed it shut behind her with a grunt of effort. She sank to the ground with her back against the door and let out a long breath, taking in the warm piney scent of the room.

‘Are you okay?’ Ruby asked from beside the fireplace, bundled in her pyjamas and a ‘borrowed’ blanket. Yang nodded, still trying to get her breath back.

None of the individual cabins had been big enough for the whole group to sleep in, so they had divided into teams again and broken the locks on a couple of the nicer houses. The sturdy log walls had provided an excellent shield against the wind, and though most of the possessions had been removed when their owners had vacated, they had managed to find enough blankets and pillows for the night amongst the properties in the abandoned village. Food however, had been scarce, so they had to make do with their own non-perishable road rations.

Their cabin had two bedrooms that they suspected had belonged to a family with a child, and the rooms were sparsely furnished. The living room was made up of a couch and two armchairs that team RWBY had dragged to face the freshly-lit fireplace. There were almost no decorative items to speak of, seemingly having been removed by the family in their exodus.

Yang had gone back out into the cold to examine the vehicles. Among the standard family cars, she had found a couple of vans, and one big enough for them all to squeeze into. Unfortunately, upon trying to start it up, it was suffering from at least a dead battery, one flattened tire, and would likely need its fluids changed.

‘Do you think we’ll be able to use the cars?’ Weiss asked from the couch, brushing her long hair. ‘I’d dread to think how we would even set up a camp out in these temperatures.’

‘I found a van, but I think it needs work. I’m going to look around tomorrow to see if I can find replacement parts,’ Yang replied, rubbing her hands together vigorously before she remembered that one was metal and was far more cold than her skin. She detached her arm and settled down next to Ruby in front of the fire to warm her numb extremities.

‘If we really tried, we could do a seventy kilometre walk in one day,’ Blake chimed in as she walked in from the bathroom. ‘We might not have to set up camp at all. Assuming we don’t get lost.’

‘God Weiss, how did you handle this cold everyday?’ Ruby exclaimed.

‘It’s not  _ that _ bad,’ Weiss snorted and they all turned to look at her incredulously. ‘And Atlas isn’t generally that cold. Most buildings are heated.’

There was a knock at their front door and Blake detoured over to open it. Qrow was standing there, shaking snow out of his hair. Yang could see through the door that a light snowfall had begun, and she prayed it wouldn’t continue throughout the night.

‘Everyone all settled in here?’

Ruby laughed. ‘What are you, a camp leader now?’

He grinned in response. ‘Someone’s gotta take care of you runts. How’d the car search go?’

‘I’ll know more tomorrow,’ Yang replied, a little dismissively, with her hand outstretched into the fire. She could feel the warm flickers tickling the end of her numb digits, slowly circulating the blood again. She tried to keep her expression even, but she knew Qrow heard her tone.

Instead of leaving, Qrow sat in an armchair and kicked his legs out to face the fire. ‘You know, I still can’t get my head around the fact that you didn’t tell me about Raven.’

‘I was thinking the same thing,’ Yang bit back, scowling into the fireplace. The contrast of the hazy comfortable heat after the bone-deep cold was making Yang tired, and she could feel her temper shortening.

Qrow paused for a long time. ‘You’ve been talking to her then?’

‘Barely. I’ve only seen her twice since Haven.’

In her periphery, Yang saw Qrow knot his fingers across his belly and tilt his head back to the ceiling. Ruby was awkwardly trying to make herself small and invisible in her blanket.

‘What was the fight about?’ Blake asked, and Yang snapped her head around in surprise. She was standing behind the couch, watching Qrow curiously. It took him a minute to realise he was being addressed.

‘What fight?’ He asked, his guard slowly rising.

Blake’s gaze met Yang’s, asking silent permission. Yang could only raise her shoulders uncertainly, completely nonplussed about the direction Blake was heading.

‘We,’ Blake gestured to herself and Yang, ‘overheard you and Briar on the ship. Why did Raven fight with you all?’ Qrow’s eyes narrowed, but Ruby piped up, sitting up straight and facing their uncle head on.

‘I think Yang deserves to know now, uncle Qrow. Whatever is going on, Raven is involved, and it would help us to know where she stands. You can’t expect us to tell you everything when you’re still keeping secrets.’ Her face was calm and serious, and for a second, Yang was reminded strongly of her mother. Of Summer.

Qrow let out a dramatic sigh and dropped his head back against the armchair’s headrest. He stared at the ceiling for a long moment. ‘What did you hear?’ He lifted his head and looked to Yang.

‘Everything was fine, and then she started to fight with everyone,’ Yang bit her lip. ‘Was it because she was pregnant? What was she fighting you all about?’

Qrow tapped his fingers against the chair’s armrest. ‘Does anyone have anything to drink?’

‘Um, no,’ Weiss replied pointedly. ‘We haven’t exactly been lugging around a case of twenty-year old single malt.’

‘Worth asking,’ he grumbled. ‘Just as bad as your sister.’

‘I take that as a compliment,’ Weiss aid primly.

Qrow ruffled his hair in resignation and leaned forward. Yang reached for her arm, finding wearing both made her feel a little more secure.

‘She was fighting with us about Ozpin,’ he finally began, gazing down at his hands that were knitted together, elbows resting on his knees. Yang leaned in, her curious skyrocketing. Despite everything she had learnt recently, this was a side of Raven that was so far still untapped. ‘She found out she was pregnant around the time we were graduating from Beacon, which also happened to be when Ozpin was getting us more involved in this whole…’ He ambivalently waved his hand in the air, gesturing to their current predicament, ‘… mess.’

Blake took a seat beside Weiss, and Yang felt a strong pull of gratitude in her stomach for dragging this conversation to the surface. Ruby shuffled forwards as well, and the way they both sat on the ground by Qrow’s knees reminded Yang strongly of his grand huntsman tales of their youth.

‘What did she disagree with?’ Ruby asked keenly, propping her elbows up on her crossed legs.

‘Well, if you know anything about Raven, she is extremely disagreeable. A resident devil’s advocate. It got tiresome.’

‘And she didn’t get along with mom,’ Yang said sadly, though she tried to hide the way the fact hurt her.

Qrow’s brow furrowed, and he peered at her keenly. ‘Why would you think they wouldn’t get along?’ Yang returned his puzzled gaze, her mind floundering for snippets and recollections. ‘Raven and Summer were actually very close.’

Yang’s eyes widened; her train of thought slowing to a halt while she processed this information.

Blake stepped in upon realising Yang was speechless. ‘You said on the airship that they fought. You said it was terrible.’

He leaned back in his chair and scratched at his stubble. ‘Hmm yeah. Maybe I should clarify.’

‘Please do,’ Ruby said, glancing at Yang who snapped back into the present. She caught her sister’s eye, suddenly realising that this story was no longer for her alone.

‘We were a very close team. It was a rocky start, but what else can you expect from a bunch of teenagers of enormously different backgrounds?’ His eyes seemed distant, and Yang yearned to see what he was reminiscing. ‘But eventually, we found a rhythm, and shaky truces became genuine friendship.’ He sighed again, habitually reaching into his pocket before remembering his flask was empty.

‘Summer and Raven though… they developed a very close bond. I guess the harder it is develop a relationship, the more it sticks. Of course, they still fought on occasion because they were both hot-headed people and that was part of their dynamic. But they always found a common ground, a point of compromise, and then they would act as though they had been discussing the weather, and their tempers were forgotten.’ Yang again looked to Ruby, whose eyes had grown wider. The Summer they had known had been… just mom. Loving, soft, fun. In their shared gaze, they realised they had only really known a single facet of her.

‘The reason this one fight in particular was nastier than the rest, was that they couldn’t agree in the end. Nor could Raven agree with Tai either. She didn’t trust Ozpin, and they both did.’

‘Why didn’t she trust him?’ Weiss cautiously asked.

Qrow gave a tired shrug, ‘She’s a paranoid person; suspicious of everyone. She thought he was putting too much responsibility on our team. On Summer in particular, because her eyes had activated by that point,’ he pointedly looked Ruby in the eyes.

‘She was worried about…’ Yang stared at him in disbelief, ‘... about mom?’ She could feel the heat of the fireplace pressing at her back, urging her forward.

‘She didn’t like how intense it was getting and thought trusting him was reckless. We all argued that he’d been trustworthy; that this war wasn’t something we could walk away from.’ Qrow drummed his fingers on the chair again, agitated. A blistering wind rattled the glass, and juddered the door lock, dying down into silence. ‘She made the valid point that she was pregnant, and that the team dynamic was about to change. That it was a bad time to be getting involved in a war. Summer and Tai tried to reassure her...’ His voice petered out as he again was lost in his thoughts.

‘And?’ Blake prompted, her hands folded neatly in her lap, but fidgeting in curiosity.

‘Well, that’s pretty much it. Those fights continued for six months, going around and around in circles. All while we starting taking on missions in pairs or going solo.’

‘And then?’ Yang whispered, as though asking quietly might somehow break the blow of the ending she already knew. ‘You said that you and Summer were approaching the house?’

‘Yeah. We were supposed to all go out to dinner at this bar where they replayed Vytal festival matches of the day. I remember it was a really warm night, and laughing with Summer as we walked up the drive. And then we could hear them screaming at each other. I mean it wasn’t too unexpected, it had started happening every time they were left alone together. Summer and I had learnt to drop the subject of Ozpin with Raven by that point, but Tai continued to push. Tried to get her to come around.’

Yang felt an ache in her torso, right between her ribs. Qrow’s description painted a detailed picture in her mind, and Yang watched her family being torn apart from behind a frosted glass window.

‘What were they saying?’ Ruby asked in hushed tones, unwilling to disturb the story’s atmosphere.

‘Ah it doesn’t matter,’ Qrow dismissed. ‘By the time we’d gotten there it was just insults and the same old, tired criticisms they’d been spitting for months.’ He paused, considering, and the re-evaluated the statement. ‘The insults were the same but the argument was different. I guess I didn’t think about it at the time, but after… well I realised that Raven seemed… upset.’

‘What?’ Yang was surprised and unsettled by the idea of her mother being upset. A quavering voice in an echoing vault flitted through her mind.

‘As upset as she gets I guess. Sad on Raven looks indistinguishable from unbridled fury. But looking back it seemed… final.’ He shook his head to clear it, shaking away the fog of emotions. ‘Then she walked out, Summer tried to call after her and Raven told her to back off, in less polite words. So we went in to Tai, who was fuming. The three of us ended up going out anyway. I think he wanted to spite her by having fun, but the whole night felt a little off.’

‘And then you didn’t hear from her,’ Yang finished.

Qrow slowly nodded, ‘Yeah, a couple of days went by and we realised none of us had heard from her. Tai was angry about getting the silent treatment yet again. And then one day we were walking down the street and we ran a friend who worked at the hospital.’

‘No,’ Weiss gasped quietly.

‘Yeah, she congratulated Tai on his daughter. And Tai, naturally, had no idea he even had a daughter. Turned out Raven had gone into labour the day before, picked herself up, got to the hospital and had a baby, without telling anyone.’

Yang didn’t think her jaw could drop any lower. The whole room was paused in a stunned silence, as though watching an eccentric tv drama.

Qrow continued, either unaware of their shock or unphased. ‘We obviously rushed over to the hospital. Tai was fuming that Raven had made him miss the birth of… well, you.’ He looked pointedly at Yang. ‘Though I suspect he was mostly just nervous and excited and didn’t know how to cope.’ The wood in fireplace crackled and popped loudly. ‘And when we got there, you were lying in her lap and she was kind of just… staring down at you.’

Her ribs had started to feel too tight, like claws digging into her heart. Yang wrapped her arms tightly around her legs, which were drawn up to her chin protectively.

‘She barely even noticed we’d arrived. The nurse handed you over to your dad, and of course he completely forgot he was mad. We were all so focused on you.’ Her uncle had a small fond smile on his face as he stared into the fire, and it lessened the tension in Yang’s chest.

‘And Raven?’ Ruby asked tentatively, supplying the words that Yang was struggling to find.

‘Ah I don’t really remember, that day was kind of a blur. I remember Summer trying to talk to Raven. And Tai… he had been so angry but he tried really hard to put it behind him, asking if she needed anything, trying to apologise for all the fighting. He was trying to fix six months of damaged relationship in one day for his new family.’

Yang opened her mouth to ask the question she already knew the answer to, but her voice didn’t come. Ruby once again came to her aid, ‘She didn’t want to?’

‘Well, Raven was just gone. As soon as we walked into that room you could just tell she had already checked out. No anger or bitterness. I think we could all tell something was seriously wrong. We spent the whole day there, but she never gave us a second look. Only ever monosyllabic answers. The only full sentence she said that day was to tell the nurse in no uncertain terms that Tai was not spending the night in her room. Up until then I think we were all pretending it was fine,’ he said with a snort of bemused laughter, shaking his head at the naivety of his twenty-one-year-old self. In the flickering flames, the grey streaks in his hair looked more pronounced and Yang started to grasp just how long it had been since these events had occurred.

‘He tried to convince her otherwise. Apologise again, you know? But she told him to spend whatever time he wanted with you in the hospital’s nursery, and then go home.’

‘And then?’ Yang murmured softly, finally finding her voice again as she asked about the moment her mother walked out of her life.

Qrow blinked slowly at her. ‘And then, Tai woke up the next morning with a baby in the crib he’d built by his bed. Raven had checked you both out of the hospital in the middle of the night, dropped you off and then vanished. None of us saw her again for years.’

The room grew quiet again, with only the rattling windows and snapping twigs filling the void. The cabin felt large and dark, stripped back from the home it had once been.

Yang squeezed her eyes shut.  _ It’s still not enough. _

-

The van rumbled haphazardly along the uneven path. Every once and a while, a wave of damp pebbles would spray up under the wheel and clatter angrily against the murky windows. Jaune clutched his backpack in his lap, trying to prevent it from being jostled around every time Yang hit a pothole head-on. He wasn’t entirely sure what shaking a lamp-shaped relic would do but he was hoping he wouldn’t be seeing the emergence of a genie anytime soon. That would be one too many things to mentally handle.

They were crammed tightly together on the seats along each interior wall, occasionally swapping those who had to stand with those fortunate enough to sit. The trip was slow-going, Yang having decided that the rough, sleet covered road was a hazard to their already neglected tires. Jaune had hovered around the open bonnet while Yang had worked on restarting the engine and changing the oils, keenly watching over her shoulder and indulging his curiosity. He would have thought his questions would grow annoying, but Yang had admitted to him that working on vehicles usually let her delve deeply into her thoughts, so this morning, his distraction had been welcome.

He glanced up at the driver’s seat where she sat hunched over the wheel, and he wondered whether driving also gave her time to think. Ruby had gone to sit up in the passenger seat; they sporadically exchanged words, though mostly sat together in silence. One side of the van took a sudden dip and Jaune felt his insides flip uncomfortably, the dry muesli breakfast swirling in his stomach as the car righted itself again.

Thirty minutes into their drive, the narrow mountain road began to broaden, and through the grimy window stained with the trails of melted slush, Jaune could see the snow had lessened and the rock at the base of the mountain became clearer. His eye was caught by the cascading polygonal rock formations, so geometric as to look manmade. He pressed his face against the perspex window and peered up as far as he could. The basalt pattern continued up the mountainside, like a handful of matchsticks hewn out of stone. At the base, the ground appeared like unevenly laid slate tiles, deep rivulets of water running between the cracks where the snow wouldn’t hold.

He turned to the others, a question on his lips, and realised Weiss had been watching him with amusement from her seat opposite.

‘In some areas, the deposits of dust deep beneath the ground impact the surface temperature,’ she answered preemptively. ‘The snow just melts away as it hits the ground.’

‘Woah,’ he replied in awe, looking up again to where the snow was falling in delicate flurries, only to land and slowly begin to dissolve. He glimpsed Oscar out of the corner of his eye, sitting on the floor with his back against the passenger seat. ‘Hey Oscar,’ Jaune said quietly, careful not to draw anyone’s attention other than Ren, who sat between them. He wasn’t sure he succeeded considering the group’s close proximity. ‘Are you doing okay? Do you wanna swap?’

Oscar looked up from his cane, of which he had been absently studying the orb. He gave a weak smile. ‘Yeah, Jaune, I’m okay. I-I’ll be fine here.’

‘Right,’ Jaune nodded, trying to exude the same confidence he used when leading his team into a battle. ‘Just let me know.’

The previous night, team JNPR had tried their best to get Oscar to open up; confide in them. He seemed shaken and out of sorts since Ozpin had returned to his body; a state he seemed to have only just overcome in the month of his absence. Jaune had felt a resentment come bubbling to the surface that he had tried to ignore.  _ It feels like Ozpin is lessening him.  _ It had bothered him greatly to see one of his friends, albeit a short-term one, burdened. But each time Jaune had encouraged Oscar to discuss it, he had been politely rebuffed.

‘Woah! Hey, look!’ Jaune turned to where Nora was pointing out the window beside him. The geometric mountainside had come to an end, tapering off with gradually decreasing columns of stone, and a vast landscape opened up. Jaune could see why Nora was impressed.

To their right, there was a glimpse of a vast hole gouged out of the surface of the continent. It was an enormous crater of concentric cuts, decreasing in diameter as they grew deeper. The snow and ice receded on all sides, seemingly unable to encroach on the pit’s territory.

‘Is that a Schnee mine?’ Blake asked Weiss quietly, who shrugged a little sheepishly.

‘I’m not sure. I don’t really know where we are. But most mines in Solitas are owned or controlled by the Schnee Dust Company.’

Jaune whipped around to face her. ‘Your family  _ owns _ that?’ He asked incredulously. ‘It’s huge.’ He turned back to the pit, a scorched brown blemish in the sparkling white landscape.

‘Most dust mines are underground…’ Weiss pondered out loud. ‘There are very few open pit mines because the ice and snow create an impenetrable layer. It’s not cost effective to look for near-surface dust.’ She pressed a finger to her lips thoughtfully. ‘I think we only own three, where the dust was so near to the surface that the ice couldn’t form.’

Ruby was turned back in her seat again. ‘You really know your family business,’ she said, impressed.

Weiss scoffed. ‘It was the majority of my education.’

Jaune was barely listening to their conversation, staring out at the scarred surface in bittersweet awe, occasionally seeing a glimpse of a sparkle in the sunlight. He squinted and pressed his face against the window. Among the glimmer of dust, he thought maybe he could see hulking dark shapes wandering the ice. He blinked, and the crater disappeared from view as the beginnings of another mountain overtook the side of the road.

-

‘There’s a turning here.’

The sound of Yang’s voice roused Blake from her absent daydreaming. She straightened in the passenger seat and sure enough, they were slowing to a stop before a wide turn-off on the right.

‘Does it look like the facility?’ Qrow asked as he leaned his head between the two seats to get a glimpse through the front window. A short way into the turning, there was a large gated fence that spanned across the rocky mountainside, deep into the beginnings of a forest that appeared to line the trade route for miles. On the fence, large white signs were posted, faded and ageing but still very legible – “South-Eastern Atlas Military Property: Trespassers will be prosecuted under military jurisdiction by Act 36b.”

‘Yup,’ Yang replied as she braked their vehicle in front of the turning.

Blake peered at the entry curiously. ‘There’s no intercom or camera at the gate. I don’t see any way to communicate with the base from here.’

Yang leaned forward to get a better look. ‘I don’t think this is the main entrance. The gate isn’t very secure. It might just be there to stop people accidentally wandering in. Padlocked though,’ she pointed to a small, unimpressive lock on the wire gate.

‘Let’s go anyway,’ Qrow said darkly, ‘At this point, I’d rather asked for forgiveness then keep waiting around for permission.’

Yang saluted and released the handbrake. ‘Aye aye, captain. Blake, would you do the honours?’

Blake grinned, ‘At once, sarge!’ She pulled Gambol Shroud from its sheath and wound down her window. A blast of cold air immediately filled the van and several shrieks and yells emerged from the back. Yang laughed but withdrew as deeply into her seat as possible while keeping her hands on the wheel. Blake tightly wrapped her coat around her and leaned out the window. Drawing her arm back, she threw Gambol Shroud and grappled the gate. One quick tug on the ribbon, the flimsy gate groaned and snapped off its hinges. Blake quickly pulled herself back into the car.

‘You know,’ Yang started as she drove them into the new opening, ‘I don’t think Sergeant is the next rank. I thought it was Lieutenant.’

Blake chuckled. ‘We can ask the official military personnel.’

The van rolled slowly down the gravel road, the tires creating a wet sloshing in the partially melted snow as they stirred up the slurry. The combination of the straight rock face on their right and tall snowy pines on their left darkened their path, the sun light shimmering though in blotches between the leaves. The sound of the van’s engine filled the sudden silence left in the wind’s absence, unable to noisily buffet the vehicle around through the tree cover, and they rumbled quietly forwards on the bumpy road.

As the road curved slightly, Blake caught a glimpse of an uninspiring grey concrete that eventuated into a short, squat building in a large clearing between the cliff face and treeline. Streaks of blackened dirt marked the walls beneath the windows, where soiled snow had melted away from the sills. A short green sign was pegged into the ground, the same white military typeface that had emblazoned the comms tower was printed on the front – “Atlas Minor Military Testing Facility East”.

Yang brought the van to a standstill in one of the marked parking spaces and cranked the handbrake noisily. She didn’t make a move to get out though. Blake could sense the source of her hesitation because she had felt it as well. The building was quiet. Very quiet.

There were no other cars parked out the front and no sign of movement from within the building. Considering the locked gate and the shut green front door of the building, the facility certainly wasn’t expecting any visitors. They shared an uneasy glance.

‘This is it, right?’ Ruby poked her head through the seats.

Yang nodded slowly. ‘Yeah it must be, but…’

‘It’s weird,’ Ruby finished as she gave the building face a once over through Blake’s window.

‘If it’s a testing facility, they probably don’t get too many guests,’ Blake rationalised. ‘It’s not like they knew we were coming.’ They heard one of the vans back doors open, and reluctantly opened their own to step out.

Blake immediately clenched up in the cold. Despite the lack of wind chill, the ambient temperature was extremely low and Blake could feel waves of numbness in her extremities as her circulation fought to compete with the weather. She began to trudge towards the door through the grimy snow, spattered with dead leaves and gritty soil, trying to follow in Ren’s footsteps to avoid her boots becoming unnecessarily filthy.

Ruby had darted ahead of the group and peered through the frosted, cross-wired window in the door. She gave the door an experimental tap and the hollow metallic echo resonated around the empty clearing. She turned back to the group and gave a shrug before trying the handle. Locked.

Yang reached over her shoulder from behind and banged the door more vigorously, the clamoring startling a few birds in the nearby trees who quickly evacuated the area with an outraged chirping. Yang tried the handle as well, though her technique was more forceful; snapping the handle out of its locking mechanism. The door noiselessly swung open. She grinned. ‘Ask for forgiveness, right uncle Qrow?’

They crossed the threshold, squeezing into the small antechamber with an unmanned front desk. The space was drab and grey, though it filtered in plenty of natural light from the windows. The room was made up of an uninspiring beige linoleum and exposed concrete walls; a couple of mandatory ‘work health and safety’ posters and an evacuation diagram by the entrance were the only decorations of note. Two sets of double doors sat at either side of the reception desk, likely leading to the rest of the facility. Blake had been hoping for some relief from the cold in the building, but the insulation seemed ineffective. She eyed off an old heating vent in the corner of the ceiling, notably silent.

‘I’m getting the impression that no one is here,’ Weiss commented as she approached the desk and ran her finger along the dust that had accumulated, ‘or has been for a while.’

‘I guess the lady on the comms tower didn’t say it was an active military base,’ Ruby replied hesitantly, peeking through one of the double doors at the side of the room.

‘She said we’d be able to contact someone here,’ Blake corrected, straining her ears to hear anything in the building. It didn’t seem entirely dead, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on the source of her niggling feeling. ‘They were supposed to help us arrange an airship.’ She watched as Weiss reached through the smudged window at the desk and picked up an clunky-looking phone, trialling a few of the buttons.

‘Dead,’ she concluded, ‘But I can’t tell if it’s the signal or battery. I’m not too familiar with this style of phone.’

‘I think we should look around,’ Yang said, planting her hands on her hips, looking to Ruby for approval.

Qrow cleared his throat conspicuously to get their attention. ‘Alright. Let’s see if there’s someone around. Or another phone.’ Weiss whacked the handset on the table a couple of times to no avail and returned it to its cradle.

Jaune cleared his throat. ‘Alright then, team J- uh… journo? Junioro?’ They could see the cogs turning in Jaune’s head as he tried to make a word from their initials. ‘Ah forget it. We’re taking the right door.’

‘Make sure you keep the relic close to you,’ Qrow called out as they filtered through into the hall, and Jaune patted the backpack to show he heard.

‘Junioro,’ Weiss snorted as the door swung shut behind them.

‘Okay, team RWBY,’ Ruby zipped in front of the remaining door to face her team. ‘We’ve got the left door.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I laughed when I re-read the genie joke. I guess I didn't realise that I had been onto something.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smallish chapter today, and yes I do realise I am the worst at posting frequently. 
> 
> Thank you for all the comments on the last chapter!

The door had opened into a long monotonous hallway with a set of fire escape stairs heading into a basement. Qrow had volunteered himself to check out the lower level while team RWBY stayed on the upper floor. Weiss’ heels clacked loudly along the tiles of the corridor as they made their way through, but no one emerged to investigate the sound. They all exchanged a look.

‘Sooo, first door?’ Yang asked, gestured to their right. There was neither a lock or window on the unassuming door. Weiss reached out and pulled it open with ease and they each crowded over each other to look inside with bated breath, staring at its contents.

‘It’s a storage cupboard,’ Blake finally said and they all dissolved into giggles over the fresh rolls of paper towels, bottles of cleaning products and first aid kits. Weiss eased the door back into place.

‘Okay, okay fine, next one then!’ Ruby dashed to a door only a few feet further away, identical in appearance and pulled it open eagerly. Her shoulders dropped dramatically. Walking up behind her, they could see it was just an electrical cupboard, filled with fuses and blinking lights. Ruby looked down the corridor, filled with other equally non-descript doors, and turnings. She sighed. ‘Alright, this is going to take too long. We’re splitting up. Come on, Yang.’

‘Okay doke.’

Weiss moved to shut the door as Ruby darted away with Yang in tow, but paused and stared thoughtfully in. She could sense Blake sidle up beside her.

‘What are you thinking?’

Weiss pursed her lips in thought. ‘I didn’t realise the military outposts were so underfunded,’ she said slowly.

‘Meaning?’

Weiss gestured to the circuits in front of them, coated in dust but still buzzing away quietly. ‘This just seems like old technology. And I know a lot of Atlas funding goes into military projects. I guess just not on this stuff.’ She closed the door and listened to it latch into place with a click. Ruby and Yang were out of sight, having rounded a corner, but she could still hear their footsteps and voices.

Together they continued down the hall, coming across a long stretch of window that looked into an open office area, entirely vacant. Blake jiggled the door knob, finding it locked; a swipe card reader embedded in the doorframe. She quickly whipped out Gambol Shroud and smashed the reader.

Weiss furrowed her brow in doubt. ‘I don’t think that’s going to break the lock…’ Blake groaned in irritation when the handle still refused to budge and kicked the door in noisily. It swung inwards violently and banged against the wall, rattling the windows.

‘What was that?’ Ruby’s voice called from the adjacent hall.

‘Uh, nothing!’ Blake called back and Weiss snorted.

-

Ren encouraged the stiff, rusted filing cabinet to slide open with a hideous grinding squeal. He heard the rest of his party wince and groan at the sound. ‘Sorry.’

The drawer was stuffed full of thin manila folders, identical in appearance to the drawer in front of Nora on the other side of the room. He internally sighed as he pulled the first file out. As with the previous two drawers he’d checked, they were labelled by some form of eight digit numerical identification code, preceded by a two letter category. He briefly flipped through the documents, which seemed a series of printed records interspersed with dates and ambiguous acronyms.

‘Anyone know what ‘AS-100’ or ‘AS-103’ are?’ Nora asked, sounding exceedingly bored. The chorused their dissent and she snapped her thick binder shut and dropped on top of the cabinet with a clang. ‘Why don’t they have a cheat sheet? I don’t know about you guys, but I have no idea what any of these words mean.’

Ren nodded in sympathy and slid his folder back into place. He could see Jaune scratching his head where he was sitting on the floor, a series of engineering blueprints laid out in front of him. They had dedicated the last ten minutes to investigating the contents of the so-called ‘Archive Room’, after a fruitless, random search of the south side of the facility for any sign of life.

‘Yeah, I don’t think we’re getting anywhere with this,’ Jaune surmised. ‘Unless you recognise any of these designs from Ozpin’s memories?’ They all turned hopefully to Oscar who dolefully shook his head.

‘Unfortunately, no. Certain aspects seem familiar, but a lot of these are very general mechanical concepts.’ He held up an intricate plotted line graph, ‘Measuring projectiles over distances and the like.’

‘And we already knew it was a military research and development facility,’ Ren finished, inching the rigid drawer back into place.

Jaune gathered up the blueprints in front of him and stood. ‘It seems like they kept their whole archive here in the facility. I wish we had more time to look through it.’

‘What are you hoping to find?’ Nora asked curiously, ‘Even if you could read all of these files, we came here to find a way to Atlas.’

Jaune looked around the room, deep in thought and only cursorily taking in his surroundings. ‘This place is off. There’s no one around, but the Atlas communication told us to come here. I was hoping that maybe they kept more than just their testing records…’

Ren slowly nodded in understanding. ‘You mean some kind of log? A record of their day-to-day work.’

‘Yeah. Then maybe we could work out what happened here; why this place is abandoned.’ He seemed to refocus and realised he was messily clutching an armful of plans. ‘But we should get going.’

Nora held a hand out to halt him as he had begun to unload the drawings. ‘Well, wait. We already know no one is here, so it’s not like we’re going anywhere any time soon. Ren and I can keep looking around, and you and Oscar can stay here.’

‘Agreed,’ Ren said. ‘Oscar has a better understanding of the technical side with Ozpin’s memories, and you can look for dated records or meeting minutes.’

Jaune mulled it over for a moment before nodding his assent. ‘Yeah, good plan. Don’t stray too far though. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies.’

-

The facility was significantly larger than it had appeared from the outside. Dull fluorescently lit corridors forked and multiplied, creating a deep branching network of identical rooms and halls. Yang had a hard time believing that even the people who worked here truly knew their way around.

She carefully studied the directory posted on the foyer wall. The grids and numbers seemed rigid and vague, each area impossible to differentiate from at least three other areas on the map. Even with a physical drawing that occupied at least half the wall, Yang struggled to identify where they were, and more than once did she try and press on a room number for an informational pop-up before mentally reminding herself that touch-interactivity wasn’t a feature of laminate paper.

‘Dammit, why is there no “you are here”?’

Ruby skipped up behind her and gave the map a once over. ‘Man, that does not seem user friendly.’

‘Well no, I’ve been staring at it for five minutes. What room is this again?’

‘Hmm, the sign says ‘Department of Advanced Robotics’. Do you see that anywhere?’

Yang ran her finger along the key at the side of the plan; a list that was at least three hundred entries long. ‘No! How is that possible?’

She felt Ruby’s chin rest on her shoulder, evidently standing on her toes to see better. ‘What about that one ‘Department of Robotic Mechanics?’ She pointed to a name on the list. ‘That’s D83.’

Yang searched the plan for the area code and shook her head. ‘No, too far south, we’re on the north side. I think it has to be this one. E21. It’s labelled DRA, but I think it’s the right sort of area.’

‘Which means,’ Ruby span away from her and examined the doorways around the room, ‘there should be some kind of laboratory section behind the door on the left.’

Yang shrugged and turned away from the map. ‘Yeah, let’s go take a look.’

The door revealed yet another corridor, and Yang let out a frustrated breath as she followed Ruby in. Fortunately, each side of the hallway was lined with windows into the rooms beyond; at least one small mercy that would save time searching the rooms. Unlike the offices of previous corridors, behind these windows were large corkboards with pinned technical designs, whiteboards scribbled with half-erased elaborate equations, and test benches littered with prototype robotic components, ranging from small and simplistic to large hulking contraptions that stood as tall as the room. She heard Ruby gasp in excitement and felt a grin pull at her lips.

‘Hey, check it out!’ Yang turned to face the direction Ruby was pointing and saw a mechanical foot resting on a bench. She narrowed her eyes at the sight and reflexively twitched the fingers on her right hand.

Ruby pushed the door opened and entered the lab, which effused an odd smell of dust, grease and cleaning products that assaulted Yang’s nose as she followed. As they approached the bench it became clear the foot was quite primitive in design, exemplifying the shape, but with none of the intricacies of the real equivalent.

‘You think your arm came from here?’ Ruby asked as she perused the blueprints resting alongside the device. Yang glanced to her prosthetic and gave it a few experimental swivels.

‘I doubt it. It seems like this place hasn’t been operational for a while. Maybe the early designs though.’ She felt an uneasy flutter deep in her stomach and the thought her arm being connected to such an eerie place. She watched Ruby toy with the ankle joints, flexing the pieces back and forth before spinning away to investigate the rest of the room, letting out ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ as she saw fit. Yang edged around the bench to follow after her sister, who had become absorbed in something obscured behind a demountable whiteboard.

‘Take a look at-‘ Ruby’s voice abruptly cut out as Yang stepped up behind her.

‘Oh, hey, that’s pretty neat,’ Yang exclaimed. Before them stood most of a person-sized robot, a dull grey exoskeletal plating ajar and revealing intricate circuitry and wiring inside. There were components strewn about the workplace; limbs were more easily identifiable than the metallic boxes and boards that were arranged on a nearby table top. ‘You think this is part of the prototype for the Atlesian Knights?’

‘Um, no.’ There was the beginning of a quaver in Ruby’s voice, and Yang’s honed instincts immediately set to protective. She followed Ruby’s gaze to a rubbery pinkish pile in the corner of the room. She moved forward to nudge it with her foot. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as it wobbled gelatinously, like a pile of…  _ flesh. Oh. _

She turned back to face her sister, whose face had grown despondent and distant. ‘You okay?’ Ruby sniffed to clear her thoughts and met Yang’s gaze with steadily increasing tenacity. She nodded once firmly. Yang reached out and rested a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry about Penny.’

Ruby shrugged sadly. ‘It’s fine. I guess she started out in a place like this. She was so complex though. More than this.’ Ruby waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the lifeless shell. ‘Aside from all the robotics, she had personality, you know?’

Yang nodded kindly, ‘Yeah, I definitely remember her personality.’

Ruby smiled softly. ‘Yeah. She was robotics, and personality. And aura.’

-

The lights in the basement were unable to disguise the fact that it was buried beneath the surface of Solitas. Despite illuminating the rooms with an obnoxious fluorescence, there was something about the solid construction that conveyed darkness, as though the lights couldn’t quite banish the shadows from the corners.

The contrasts between the lower level and the main floor were stark and immediately apparent as Qrow had descended the stairs. Unlike the floor above, the basement had little concern for dressing up the facility in layers of linoleum and paint. He had been flanked on all sides by unforgiving concrete faces as he opened the steel door from the vestibule into a workshop.

It had turned out to be the first of several workshops that made up the ‘Department of ARD’, a suspiciously vague acronym that had left Qrow habitually caressing the pommel of Harbinger.

‘Nothing good ever comes out of a basement. It’s where people keep secrets,’ he muttered to himself as he perused a thick binder, flicking past technical jargon to the diagrams, charts and illustrations. His hand paused, one finger resting above the phrase ‘Aura Stabilisation Under Constraints Test – E’, printed neatly at the bottom of bar graph. He frowned and skimmed back to the front of the binder, slowly turning over the confidentiality warnings and publication notes that littered the first few pages, until he came across what he was looking for in small print on page ‘vii’.

‘Study commissioned on behalf of the Atlesian Military Advancement Division for the Department of Aura Research and Development.’ Qrow scratched his chin thoughtfully. ‘Well, that’s my ARD.’

-

‘Oooh this one is nice,’ Nora called back to Ren, her head poking through yet another door in a long hall of offices. ‘It’s got carpet! And a bigger desk.’ She pushed the door fully open and stepped into the office space, the clunking of her boots muffled against the fabric of the floor.

‘Must have been someone more important,’ she mused to herself as she took in the sight of half-filled laminate bookshelves and a wider L-shaped desk, with a small plastic plant in the corner. The computer was holographic, the first of its kind she’d seen in the facility, but hardly new or upmarket. Despite the comparative perks of the office, the closer inspection proved to be lacking.

‘What did you find?’ Ren’s steady voice came from the doorway.

‘Fancy office done on the cheap,’ she grinned back at him, ‘but look at all the space this person had.’ She gave a demonstrative twirl, arms stretched wide.

Ren hummed thoughtfully as he surveyed the room, ‘I was just in an office like this down the hall. It had three desks though, and no holo-computer.’ His brow was furrowed as he stepped into the room.

‘What is it?’ She asked curiously, glancing around the room for the source of his puzzlement.

He approached the desk and peered closely at the tabletop. ‘This one’s not as dusty as the others we’ve seen.’

‘What?’ Nora moved in for a closer look. The surface couldn’t be described as clean, but she could see that the layer of dust on the desk was thin, even in comparison to the shelves around the room. A glimmer in the corner of her eye drew her attention, and she approached the computer and experimentally tapped a key. The small dim red light set in the computer’s solid base, which had caught her gaze, blinked to green as the holo-screen began to project. They shared an uneasy look.

‘Why wasn’t this one shut down like the others?’ Ren asked slowly.

‘It can’t have been used too recently,’ Nora indicated the sheen of dust along the keys.

‘But its owner still left it awake,’ Ren pointed out. ‘Like they would eventually come back to it. Try the phone?’

Nora reached over to the holo-screened base station and slid open the number pad, which immediately responded with a projection. Hesitating for a moment, she lowered her finger and pressed a number. Beneath her finger bloomed a pop-up message.

‘What does it say?’

‘Please enter your password.’

‘Damn.’ They pondered in silence for a moment.

‘This is good though, right?’ Nora suddenly asked. ‘They still use this base. Just not as much.’ She scrunched her nose. ‘Maybe they had cut-backs?’

Ren smiled slightly at that. ‘Looks like they cut back ninety percent of their staff in that case. Come on, you’re right, no one’s been here in a while. Let’s keep moving.’

-

‘Was your sister involved in this sort of thing?’ Blake had been developing a keen curiosity about the Atlesian military as they delved deep into the abandoned base. They had walked at least five corridors of indistinguishable office spaces to finally come across a much taller, wider hallway, infrequently interspersed with double doors.

‘Hmm, I couldn’t really tell you. She’s not allowed to discuss her work in depth,’ Weiss replied absently as she gave a passing glance through the window of the first door. Blake could sympathise. They had seen so many dull, empty rooms that it was hard to muster enthusiasm for their investigation.

‘Anything?’

‘Large, empty. Metal walls with steel braces.’

‘Next one then. So she never talks about work?’

Weiss raised an eyebrow as they strolled down the hall. ‘No. She’s very committed to honouring her agreement with the military.’

‘Strong principles then.’

‘Exactly.’

Blake twisted her mouth thoughtfully. ‘Is she very technical?’

Weiss vaguely waved her head from side to side. ‘Not particularly, but she’s very smart. If she were inclined, it would probably be easy for her dedicate herself to study.’

‘But she hasn’t been inclined? Like you?’

‘Father focused more on business and management. Economy. That sort of thing.’ Blake frowned at Weiss’ blasé tone. ‘It dominated our education. At least all our education that wasn’t dedicated to training.’

‘Why combat skills then?’ Blake asked over her shoulder as she pushed open a door near her and stepped into the room.

‘Father thought it would teach discipline. Which it did, I suppose, but Winter and I both developed a strong interest in it, unlike Whitley.’

‘Management and combat. Definitely suits military.’ Blake mused before taking in her surroundings. The room matched the description Weiss had provided just moments before. It was a large empty space with reinforced steel walls.  _ Only not empty. _

‘A Paladin?’ Weiss asked, somewhat rhetorically as, in the centre of the room, stood an Atlesian Paladin. At the other end of the room, Blake noticed that the entire wall consisted of a messily painted target: enormous concentric circles that shrank to a point in the centre. As she approached, something crunched under her feet, and she realised that it wasn’t a messy paint job at all – the lines themselves were exceptionally neat and precise – but a series of bullet holes that dotted the wall and distorted the clean lines of the target. She had stepped across discarded, discharged bullets and casings that had been carelessly ignored.

‘I think we found their testing rooms,’ Blake commented as she carefully made her way between the shards of shrapnel.

‘Agreed,’ she heard Weiss say behind her, the voice echoing in the large chamber, ‘This Paladin is a different model. Maybe newer?’

‘Why do you say that?’ Blake examined the spattering of little dents around the outer rings, which grew more and more concentrated until they had ripped through the steel at the heart of the target; a glimpse of the cladding was visible through the hole, embedded with bullets.

She heard a rapping of knuckles on metal and turned to see Weiss probing and analysing the machine. ‘I think the shell is harder. Also, it has a mini-gun.’

‘Oh,’ Blake raised her eyebrows. The Paladin did indeed have enormous mini-guns in the place of its arms, nearly twice the size of the guns on other models. She glanced back at the hole that had been punched through the target and felt a nervous skip in her heart as her mind flashed back to Beacon and Vale. Weiss’ distant expression made her wonder if her teammate was thinking the same.

-

The sound of the door creaking open drew Jaune’s attention away from the pile of records resting on his lap. He looked up to see Oscar re-entering with an armful of documents and what appeared to be a large scroll.

‘Mission success!’ Jaune grinned at Oscar’s announcement, ‘I went through one of the offices nearby,’ he held up the large scroll triumphantly, ‘Should be able to go through the digitised archive with this.’ He gestured broadly to the shelving tightly packed with thin flash drives.

‘Good call. I picked out a few that seemed important.’ Jaune grabbed one of flat drives, approximately the size of a lien, with a small connector on one side. ‘Actually, these last few weren’t really organised. They were in that box that was near the door.’

‘What are they?’ Oscar plugged the scroll into a wall socket and drew closer to the selection Jaune had arranged on the floor.

‘They seem to be the most recent schematics,’ Jaune replied, flipping over the drive and reading the rough tape label. ‘I guess they hadn’t gotten around to sorting them yet.’

‘Or got lazy,’ Oscar said, eyeing off the size of the box as he plugged the first drive in and booted up the scroll. ‘What did you find?’

Jaune furrowed his brow and flipped back a few pages in the ledger he had been reading. ‘Well, a bit about why this place is shut down. Seems like they weren’t generating enough revenue for the military. One of the facility’s investors pulled out, and compared to the other, larger research military bases, this one wasn’t producing enough.’

‘As boring as that?’ Oscar questioned as he flicked his finger across some of the diagrams that appeared on the screen. Viewing them backwards, Jaune was surprised to see it was possible for them to make even less sense. He shook his head in bemusement.  _ Guess I’m not going to be an engineer any time soon. _

‘Yeah, it seems like it,’ Jaune shrugged. ‘They just slowly withdrew funding over time, re-allocated resources and staff.’

For a while, they both read in silence, trying to make sense of their respective records. In the tiny, musty room, paper shuffling and quiet bleeping were the only sounds in earshot in the dead building. Jaune stretched out his neck and back as they began to cramp up in his spot on the floor. He idly wondered whether Ren and Nora had found anything interesting, and even more idly considered moving his mysterious  research project to one of the fully equipped offices.

‘It’s odd.’ Jaune glanced at Oscar’s quiet murmuring.

‘What is?’ He asked after a long pause, when it became apparent Oscar wasn’t going to elaborate.

‘You said the facility wasn’t producing anything worthwhile,’ he chewed a lip thoughtfully, ‘but some of these diagrams seem quite…  _ advanced. _ ’

‘They all seem advanced to me,’ Jaune said hesitantly.

‘More advanced. The old paper diagrams from the cabinets were pretty basic, but some of these more recent ones are very intricate.’ Oscar looked up from the scroll and rotated it to show Jaune. The drawing showed an expanded view of an Atlesian Knight, with a magnification on its gun. Jaune helplessly looked back to Oscar to elaborate. ‘Ozpin’s memories only get me so far in this area, but this stuff seems far more detailed than anything he’d seen. I’m surprised they said it wasn’t producing anything of value. These designs are more innovative than the machines than Ironwood was toting just a year ago.’

Jaune raised an eyebrow, ‘That was top of the line Atlas technology. You think the designs from five years ago are more advanced? They should be the schematics that Ironwood used for his most recent equipment.’

Oscar frowned at him, ‘Five years ago?’

‘Yeah, that’s when the facility shut down,’ Jaune turned to the final page of the ledger, ‘Five years ago, they finally abandoned the facility after gradually cutting back staff. Seems there was an actual grimm attack at the very end, hence leaving everything behind.’

Oscar lifted the scroll up and zoomed in on one of the dates on the designs, passing it over to Jaune. ‘These are dated two years ago. Looks like someone was still working here.’

-

He tapped a finger absently along the solid mahogany of his desk, the surface of which was illuminated with the faint bluish glow of his screen. The took a long slow sip of his tea as he settled back into his chair, an array of camera displays flickered before his eyes. As each camera cut away to another feed, he counted.

‘Two, four, six, eight, nine. All present and accounted for.’ He lifted his finger over to the keyboard before him, gently typing a sequence with a caress as he lifted his cup to his lips once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooooh spooky!  
> Let me know what you think! I have to stop typing now because my fingers will freeze and fall off.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out that this is the last chapter. It's extra long but I didn't really want to break it up.  
> Anyway hope you enjoy and I'll have more notes at the end.
> 
> As usual, thank you for all the comments on the last chapter. It really means a lot, especially those of you who have been reading from the beginning.
> 
> Here comes the chaos!

‘What was this area called again?’

‘Quality Testing,’ Ren reminded Nora, looking at the doors opening off the foyer they stood in. ‘I think we’ve looped around.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I think we’ve moved to the centre of the facility, maybe closer to the north side. Where team RWBY went.’

‘Maybe we’ll run into them!’ Nora replied eagerly, sounding abnormally cheered by the idea of seeing the friends they’d only just separated from an hour ago. ‘All these empty rooms are so boring. We could hide and jump out at them.’

Ren chuckled and ruefully shook his head. ‘That’s maybe not the best idea.’

Nora shrugged and skipped across the room towards the nearest door. ‘I wouldn’t put it past Yang to try it. Maybe she’s behind… this door!’ Nora pulled it open dramatically, and Ren playfully rolled his eyes at her fun.

‘Oh Yang, you scared us,’ he played along in a monotone voice as he walked up behind Nora, slowly realising how quiet she had become. ‘Nora? What is it?’

‘Uh well…’

‘Oh.’ He had looked past her into the room, which turned out to be more of a chamber, much deeper than the standard rooms that had come across. It wasn’t the size of the room, however, that had given them both pause, but rather the lines upon lines of closely packed dormant Atlesian knights, standing tall and blankly. ‘What? What are these doing here?’

‘I thought said this was “Quality Testing”, not storage,’ Nora whispered, tightly gripping the door handle.

‘Maybe they all need to be tested?’ Ren said uncertainly, stepping forward to examine the closest row of knights. They were a dull gun-metal grey, with none of the Atlas flair and polish but clearly based off the same designs. In his peripheral, he saw a dull red glow and glanced up from the breastplate of the nearest knight to see its helmet radiating light. He staggered back as the red light suddenly flooded back, row by row, accompanied by the humming echo of mechanical joints powering up. ‘Oh no.’

-

‘Looks like we finally reached the end,’ Ruby grinned back at Yang who was dawdling behind her, idly casting an eye over the lines drawn along the ground. At every turn, they had chosen the most easterly route, trying to gauge the depth of the facility, which had eventually led them to the enormous room they currently stood in.

‘It’s a garage,’ Yang raised an eyebrow, unimpressed with the anticlimax. Ruby snorted at her disappointment. ‘What? I’m just saying, we spent like an hour getting here, and it’s just as empty and boring as the rest of the rooms.’

Ruby slowly rotated, taking in her surroundings. She could see why Yang was bummed out. The garage was at least twice as tall as the rest of the facility, with three huge rolling doors that spanned both the height and width of the external wall. Two smaller rolling doors lead back into the facility, where Ruby imagined cargo was forklifted out into the loading bay they were in. Otherwise, there was little else to look at. It was constructed from bare concrete and several tall structural steel columns, directional lanes and parking spaces marked out on the floor and various electrical cables and plumbing pipes snaked along the walls in a geometric formation, meeting in consolidation boxes and water tanks.

Yang sighed loudly. ‘Well, if there was going to be a spare airship, it would be here.’

‘We wouldn’t know how to fly it anyway,’ Ruby commented as she wandered over to a wire fence enclosure with some crates secured behind it. ‘And Atlas might’ve shot us down like Briar said.’

‘I was still hoping we’d have something to show for all the time we’ve spent on this.’

Ruby was only half-listening to her sister’s complaints. She had looked up to the ceiling and frowned at what she found. ‘Yang, look.’

Yang followed Ruby’s eyeline. ‘Are they turrets?’

‘Looks like it,’ Ruby squinted up the four guns that were mounted along the ceiling near the external doors. ‘I wonder why they needed to protect this area so much? Bandits?’

‘Probably grimm. Those doors seem pretty damn sturdy too.’ Yang jogged across the floor and gave one a solid rap with her knuckles, the clang echoing loudly through garage. ‘I guess they’d be a second line of defence if anything broke through.’

Ruby gave the room a final once over and shrugged. ‘We should head back to-‘ She was abruptly cut off by a sudden explosion, muted by the distance but unmistakeably explosiony. She froze, silently listening as another eruption caught her ear. Her hand was on Crescent Rose in a well-worn muscle motion, flicking the blade outward, her feet subconsciously shifting themselves into a fighting position.

‘That came from inside.’

-

Qrow stressfully ruffled his hair as he tossed a another neatly bound document into a growing pile on the floor beside his feet. He flipped open the next one, skipping towards hypotheses, forewords and business justifications – the only parts of the research documents that he could understand. He felt a growing sense of uneasiness rising in his gut and aggressively rubbed his temples to relieve his strained eyes from the assault of too-bright fluorescent light and small print.

‘Hmm… “Introduction”,’ he murmured quietly to himself, skimming through for familiar buzzwords. ‘In response to AMAD’s call for progressive and aggressive new offensive technologies… Department of Aura Research and Development adapted previous studies… this document is the culmination of research into… focusing techniques, capturing techniques, transmission techniques… hmm.’ He hurriedly flicked across to the back in search of the document’s conclusions. ‘In summary… developing weapons based on the concentration of propulsion of aura is…’ his voice caught momentarily before he allowed himself to finish, ‘… not only perfectly plausible but highly effective against aura-based defences… the below outlines a variety of proposed areas of further study… sample design ideas for future testing…’ His voice trailed off into the oppressive silence of the basement.

_ Surely Ironwood would never condone this sort of weapon. Where would they get the aura? Why are they attempting to create a weapon that can bypass a person’s only natural protection, while we’re in a time of peace? _

He turned back to the front, hoping for a publication date or authorisation information, but his eyes fell upon something else, printed delicately on the opening pages.

‘Document authored by C. Auburn, H. Zinnk and… A. Watts.’

There was a bang from above him, and the basement bunker trembled, concrete dust raining from the ceiling onto the workbench where he sat.

‘What the hell?’

-

Weiss shielded her eyes from the bright flash and sudden wave of heat emanating from the centre of the room. She heard the clicking of a rotating barrel and began sprinting in a circular fashion around the edge of the room, an awful rhythmic whizzing and cracking sound dogged her footsteps, the gunfire hot on her heels. She chanced a glance at the awakened paladin at the centre of the test room, rotating in perfect sync with her movements. There was barely a scuff on its metal armour and Weiss gritted her teeth at the ineffectiveness of her burn-dust.

‘The targeting system has improved,’ she yelled out, hoping her voice could be heard above the relentless pounding of bullets into metal and concrete, ‘it can keep up with linear movement.’ To punctuate her point, she threw a glyph in front of her at a forty-five degree angle and planted both feet firmly against it, launching herself into a backflip over the pursing gunfire. She glimpsed the stark lines left in the wake of the bullets as they passed beneath her, millimetres away. Landing firmly on her feet, she gave a flourish of her blade, and the pale blue streaks that emerged rushed towards the joints of the gun that had already begun winding back to aim at its target.

Weiss smirked as blooms of ice burst from the joints, halting the movement. A hideous mechanical grinding sound began to ramp up, and she had barely a moment of breathing room before cracks appeared and the aggressive whirring grew louder, the ice shattering within a heartbeat. She frowned and threw herself backwards into a glyph and pressed off into the air directly above the paladin, a blast of gunfire thudding into the wall where she had stood.

From her vantage point, she saw Blake skid around under the arm of the gun, using the machine’s leg as a pivot point for her ribbon, and skirting out of the range of the second gun. Once at a safe distance, she released Gambol Shroud from its grapple and immediately wrapped it around the arm that was pursuing Weiss, and pulled down hard, disrupting its trajectory.

‘We need to break its armour!’ Blake called out. ‘Or find a way around it!’

Weiss nodded as she began her descent, placing another glyph to re-direct her movement sideways. She tried to focus her thoughts.  _ It doesn’t give us enough time to plan… or summon. We have to keep moving.  _ She quickly tossed out another platform for herself, zig-zagging back and forth, up and down, to disorient the tracking on the second gun that had now locked on to her. She could see Blake making similar movements, but keeping close to the main body, running her blade along the joints as the opportunities appeared, trying to find a point of weakness.

She felt a sudden impact in her hip and her aura shuddered. The paladin had opted to swing its gun arm and collide with her, clipping her side. It was enough to throw her off balance, and she dropped to the floor, twisting in the air to try and land on her feet. She staggered as she reached the floor and lunged sideways as the spray of bullets narrowly missed her, clambering to her feet as quickly as possible. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Blake swing herself up into the air on her ribbon, re-sheathing her blade for a heavier attack. Weiss watched in horror as the gun rotated upwards and began to spin.

‘Blake! Look out!’ She quickly spun the barrel of Myrtenaster to its purple cartridge, and, vaulting herself over the arm swinging towards her, cast a glyph on the wall behind the gun that was directing its aim at Blake, still high in the air. The gravitational symbol pulled the mini-gun just enough off target for the spattering of bullets to lodge themselves in ceiling, Blake safely free-falling past them with Gambol Shroud poised to slice into the would-be cockpit.

In the split-second of assisting Blake, Weiss made a choice. She could see the second arm that she had briefly dodged was coming back at her in full force, and she was only just barely holding the other in place with her glyph. She spun the barrel of Myrtenaster once again, sprinting forwards underneath the swinging arm while bullets hammered the wall behind her, and re-cast her existing glyph, the black symbol shifting to a burning red.

She saw Blake glance back and swiftly rotate mid-air out of her striking pose, instead planting both feet firmly onto the cockpit and drawing into a momentum-charged crouch. Weiss watched in puzzlement for half a second, before realising that Blake had changed her target.

‘Weiss!’

‘On it.’ She focused her attention on the spot where Blake’s feet met the paladin and summoned another cream-coloured glyph, that flowed upwards to encompass Blake’s aura. She rolled beneath the arm that relentless pursued her, and activated her other, now burning, glyph, which spurted out an inferno over the mini-gun, as Blake simultaneously pushed off the paladin’s head with the stored force of her fall, Gambol Shroud held firmly. Weiss watched as Blake swung her blade with the wind-dust enhancement, stirring the inferno into a frenzied swipe that sliced through the machine and rent the gun from the arm. It clattered noisily to the ground, Blake landing beside it as the paladin staggered which the sudden change in balance.

‘Well,’ Blake smiled, ‘now for arm number two.’

-

The thin aluminium door rattled on its rails as it slowly rolled up, halting Yang and Ruby in their tracks. They glanced at each other uncertainly; the explosion had been followed by distant but persistent gunfire, growing more audible with the prolonged climb of the door.

‘Something’s wrong,’ Ruby said, backing away from the door acting on its own accord. ‘Really wrong.’

Yang extended her gauntlet and released her gun. She cautiously crouched to see below the door as it reached hip-height, dimly making out some mechanical steel structure. Another explosion echoed distantly, and Yang clenched her teeth.

‘We should find the others-‘ She broke off as the door fully retracted, revealing a paladin in the beginnings of its power-up glow. ‘Oh boy.’

A puff of steam released with a hiss as the machine’s hydraulic joints pressurised and began to clunkily step forward out of the large holding room that had been hidden behind the door. Yang could feel herself slip into a guarded stance as she stared down the hulking figure. The paladin began to move more fluidly and stepped fully into the garage.

‘Yang,’ Ruby spoke in hushed tones, ‘It could be aggressive. We should find cover.’ Yang nodded in response and backed away, ducking behind the nearest steel pole which stood the width of two people. The paladin moved away from the door and Yang stifled the surprise she felt emerging in her throat. Framed in the doorway, stood a second paladin, also powering up. She glanced at Ruby, who had also been intently watching the doorway and raising three fingers. Yang frowned and peeked around the edge of her pillar. Behind the second paladin appeared to be yet another steel shape.  _ Three?! _

She faintly heard a whirring and hurriedly tried to get the first paladin back in her eyeline. It continued to walk forwards, making room for its companions to exit the holding room, but the whirring noise continued to grow in volume. And then abruptly stopped. Yang held her breath, eyes darting between the entrance to the storage room and the already awake machine as it continued its routine movements.  _ What was making that noise? _

There was a quiet click, and Yang realised with a split second of horror that the sound had come from behind them, near the external doors. She whirled around just in time to see the four turrets begin firing. ‘Ruby!’

Yang threw herself to the side and tried desperately to get a glimpse of her sister as she scrambled across the ground, the concrete hard on her knees. Ruby was similarly staggering out of the way as she batted bullets aside with Crescent Rose, trying to regain her footing. Yang felt a couple of bullets hit her aura; hard but still small. She unloaded a couple of shots from her gauntlets at the turrets, mostly missing as she sprinted towards the ground beneath their muzzles, testing their field of vision.

A whizzing beside her pulled her attention. In her periphery, Yang saw a small black projectile fly alongside her. She swallowed her gasp and threw both arms out in the direction of the object as it propelled towards the ground. She fired off a shot from each hand and allowed the force of the blast to launch her away as the oblong ball hit the floor and exploded. She felt the flickers of heat chase her as her body flew across the garage, and she held her arms across her face to protect it from the spray of metallic shards.

‘Yang! Are you okay?’

She let off another shot, this time directed towards the ground to boost her into the air; she flipped and landed firmly on her feet. Barely turning her head, Yang could see the paladin readjusting what she now assumed was a grenade launcher on it arm. There was a whirring ringing in her ears, and Yang began to sprint as the click of the turrets’ reload finalised.

‘Ruby, what do we do?’ She yelled out. ‘We can’t handle this.’

‘I don’t know. We need to go.’ Ruby’s voice was laden with concern. A steady clunking, hissing, whirring and clicking filled the air, punctuated by the rapping of bullets into solid surfaces. A bang echoed from the direction of the main facility, and Yang anxiously tilted her head towards the sound. The small person-sized door that she and Ruby had entered through had been thrown open, and Weiss and Blake sprinted in, flourishing and firing. Yang grinned and internally breathed a sigh of relief.

Ruby gave a loud whoop at the sight of them. ‘Alright team RWBY to the rescue! Now we just need to- Oh god, what is that?’

Yang turned with alarm, ducking aside as a grenade landed metres from her, trying to find the source of Ruby’s distress. She spotted the burgeoning purple light that was building in the centre of the second paladin’s gun.

_ Oh no. _

-

‘Can you tell where it’s coming from?’ Jaune asked between panting breaths. The sound of their pounding feet along the corridor was overwhelmed by incessant gunfire coming from nearby, occasional explosions in the distance.

‘I think this way,’ Oscar yelled back, his cane in his hand. ‘What the heck is going on?’

‘I don’t know but we need to find the others.’ Jaune turned into the next corridor and immediately came face to face with stark red light embedded into a helmet. The knight lifted a bayonetted rifle and slashed vigorously at Jaune’s face. He took a quick half-step back, just avoiding the blade as it lightly grazed his shield. Oscar darted forward and smashed at the back of the machine’s legs with his cane. The knight crumpled to the ground and let off a stream of fire directly into Jaune’s shield, which he quickly thrust forward in an abrupt movement and brought his sword down hard.

‘Where did that come from?’ Oscar nervously glanced around the other corners at the intersection.

‘It can’t be the only one by the sounds of things,’ Jaune surmised. ‘Come on, I think it’s coming from this way.’ He began to sprint towards the racket, his heart rate picking up as he heard the familiar ‘thunk’ of Magnhild’s chamber emptying. A spray of bullets whizzed past his head, and not for the first time he wished he had some sort of long-range weapon. He glanced back at Oscar, who was running directly behind him for the second-hand shield protection. There were two knights standing at the end of the corridor, still some distance away, and showing no signs of relenting their fire. ‘Oscar, take the next left door. We need to get out of this hall. We’re sitting ducks.’

Oscar ran out from behind him and knocked the door open violently, Jaune maintaining their cover as he ducked in behind him and slammed the door. ‘Jaune, get down!’

Jaune span around and threw himself behind a cabinet that stood by the door, a combination of bullets and lasers flashing past through the air that he had just been occupying. As he dropped, he had only a second to glimpse the room they had entered. What had once been a large open office space with neatly lined, identical desks, had been turned into a warzone. Tables were upended onto their side to form makeshift barricades, behind which Ren and Nora stood, firing upon the swarm of knights that were flooding in from the other end of the room.

He peeked his head out from behind the cabinet, and watched the way the knights swayed and shifted, all while pushing forwards to their target. There was a slight, out-of-step synchronicity about their movements as they received and processed their algorithms. He heard Nora grunt in frustration and turned to see her promptly swing her hammer into her barricade and blast the desk across the room at an extreme velocity, sweeping up three or four knights in its path. The air was immediately filled with fire upon the space where Nora’s cover had been, and she took a couple of hits before kicking up another desk and ducking down.

Jaune gripped Crocea Mors and took a slow deep breath.

-

Waves of vibration reverberated the hallway, and Qrow gritted his teeth as he ran. Bland wallpaper blurred together as he dashed down the maze-like corridors, focused on reaching the vibration’s source. The humming of the air pressed into his body like an excitable breeze, harmless upon impact but unsettling. The vibrations were accompanied by a very deep, almost inaudible subsonic booming. He saw the door ahead of him and whipped out Harbinger, holding the blade behind him. He angled his shoulder forward and braced himself as he banged the door open and pelted into the garage.

The scene before him was the embodiment of chaos. The images came to him in slow motion, almost a pre-war painting of a tale about victory against all odds.  _ Assuming we win. _ Three paladins stood around the garage, oppressive giants preparing to stomp down their adversaries. Swinging and blasting, laser sights darting around the room. A blooming flash of white, then yellow, then orange light burst in the centre of the room; a shrill cracking following the small explosion. Diagonal flashing streaks assaulted his eyes as they made haphazard checkerboard patterns across the room. It took him a moment to realise they were streams of bullets from overhead turrets.

And amongst it all, his nieces and their team. Small and unprotected. They dashed around the room, bouncing between pillars and paladins, unsuccessfully trying to land hits as they are forced to withdraw as quickly as they lashed out. Blurs of red and yellow brought up a surge of protectiveness in him that he quickly quenched.  _ Need to be smart. _

His instant of situational analysis ended abruptly as a deep humming vibration began and he felt it in his gut. He dimly heard team RWBY shout out words of warning to each other as he searched for the source.

‘Don’t get hit!’ He bellowed, feeling immediately foolish for his simplistic warning, and he dashed forwards to join the fray. They seemed startled by his presence and he raced towards the burgeoning violet glow from the cannon of a paladin. ‘Your aura won’t protect you.’ 

The beam struck the floor beside him, a rush of warm air and a strange waviness washing over him as he ducked below the strike, deflected a smattering of bullets aimed at Ruby as she sped past, and continued forwards and past the paladin, drawing its fire away. ‘That beam is a concentrated form of aura. You cannot get hit,’ he yelled back at them, glimpsing Yang and Blake collide in mid-air; a side effect of his semblance. His attention was quickly pulled back to thumping steps as the machine pursued his zigzagging movements across the garage.

‘Team RWBY!’ Ruby’s voice called out into the cacophony, clear and decisive, ‘Ladybug to the turrets! Freezerburn to the explodey-bot. Weiss, we need a distraction on that last one!’

He pivoted and skidded to a halt on the heel of his foot, an enormous white knight emerging in his peripheral, and with one clean flourish, the gears of Harbinger ticked and the lethal scythe emerged.

-

The floor was littered with crumpled metal and detached limbs. Nora sucked in a breath with great effort as she swung Magnhild through an approaching knight, her arms feeling strained and heavy. The knight bounced back and hit an adjacent wall. Its torso was damaged but it still managed to unload several rounds before Nora crushed its head into its body, and the machine grew still. She heard a grunt beside her, whirling around to see Ren’s aura take a couple of hits from behind as he parried a bayonet.

The office they had used to set up their defence had been torn apart, furniture overturned and ripped to shreds. Oscar was panting as he thwacked knights and Jaune’s shield shook ever so slightly under the barrage of fire as he defended their back entrance. Nora’s mind flashed back to the cavernous storage space that had housed the knights.

‘They’re just going to keep coming!’ She yelled out, firing off pink explosives into one of the entrances.

Ren kicked a chair cleanly into a gun taking aim, his landing taking him longer to recover from than usual. ‘She’s right Jaune, there are many more where these came from.’

A blade clanged against Jaune’s shield and Nora could see in her periphery that he was trying to assess their surroundings. ‘Alright, we’re not going to be able to hold this room much longer. We need to get to the others or find somewhere else to defend. Oscar, you go first, back the way we came.’ Nora could feel her aura absorb a stray laser blast and tried not to wince. ‘Now Ren, go. I’ll cover you.’ A loud crack and the room fell into part shadow as one of the ceiling lights was shot, glass raining down on the side of the room where Oscar had just stood. ‘Nora! Come on.’

-

Yang’s heart was racing as she took one step forward and half-skipped back, stepping neatly out from under a trunk of an appendage as it slammed into the ground, cracking the concrete. She winced at the damage but leapt and sprinted up the arm of the paladin, trying to maintain her balance as the machine lifted itself. Her foot slipped, but she caught herself mid-fall with one blast of her gauntlets that propelled her up, a second that propelled her forwards. Her fist collided hard with the solid structure and it staggered backwards as Yang flipped back to the ground.

Myrtenaster was plunged into a glyph by her feet, and Yang did her best to deflect incoming turret gun fire, a couple of bullets reaching their mark, as Weiss summoned up hands of ice to grip the unbalanced machine.

‘Come on Weiss,’ Yang urged her forward into motion, trying to maintain their flow of movement. She could see exhaustion in her team mate’s posture and anxiously glanced at the arma gigas in the corner of the room where it was holding the attention of the third paladin, also armed with an aura-cannon, by slamming its sword into the weaker joints. They rushed forwards to their temporarily immobilised paladin, Weiss hopping up onto a glyph as a whistling rush of air drew closer and exploded violently where she had stood. Yang quickly turned her head to protect her face from the spray of hot metal fragments, her aura absorbing the heat and shards, and caught sight of Ruby running her scythe through a turret as Blake wrenched it from the ceiling with Gambol Shroud grappled into the thick armour. A rain of bolts and bullets fell neatly onto the floor, followed by a loud clanging of the turret’s main body.  _ One down. _

Her legs were beginning to grow tired, and Yang could feel her knees protesting the constant back and forth of swerving and feinting. A small shimmering sound that could just barely be heard over the beginnings of a cannon rumbling, drew her attention to the glyph Weiss had placed. Yang quickly pirouetted out of range of the blast of purple aura that had gotten past Weiss’ summoning, heart racing as the vibrations coursed through her body at such a short distance. She forced herself to vault over the cannon that the paladin clumsily swung, firing off several rounds at the glyph placed on a shoulder joint. The joint burst into flames and Yang threw a punch at the weakened arm, feeling it ever so slightly give way.

‘Guys we need help!’ 

Yang turned to find the source of the yell. Qrow was still facing off against his own paladin, his scythe spinning rapidly as he searched for weaknesses in the machine, hampered by the serious threat of the aura-cannon. He gave no signs of calling for help. Yang quickly turned her attention to Ruby and Blake, who were jumping off pillars in coordinated strikes on the turrets and seemingly in control of their battle.

She felt Weiss land beside her. ‘Look, it’s the others.’ 

Yang watched as Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Oscar burst into the garage. They seemed as exhausted as Yang felt, stumbling over themselves and anxiously glancing back at the door. She could see the alarm wash over their faces as they realised the fight they had walked into.

‘Oh my god Weiss, they’re being chased by Atlesian knights.’ A barrage of turret fire landed near them and Yang skipped back, pulling a lethargic Weiss by the elbow. ‘Weiss? Are you okay?’ Her teammate was breathing heavily, leaning on her blade. Yang glanced over at the enormous summoning as it swung its blade into the third paladin. She thought perhaps it flickered.

There was a sudden cracking sound and Weiss went flying backwards across the garage with the blur of a grenade launcher in her wake, shards of ice scattering across the ground at Yang’s feet. The paladin had managed to free itself and had brutally swung its weapon into Weiss’ body.

‘Weiss!’ Yang stared after her in horror as she slid and rolled across the floor, knowing full well that her teammate’s aura was likely reaching its limit. The pale blue glow that unwound itself from Weiss’ body confirmed the suspicion, and she briefly glimpsed the arma gigas shudder much more violently as it was belted by the other paladin.

Yang rushed towards Weiss and heard the whistling too late. The small, round projectile landed squarely at her feet, and with barely a second to process what was happening, she was blasted back. She held her arms up across her face for as much defence from the blaze as possible, and didn’t see the follow up attack until she felt the warm metal ram into her stomach, doubling her over with the impact juddering through her ribs, her aura unable to halt the strike’s momentum. She felt the ground leave her feet as she went flying back, finding the floor again with her spine when she began to skid across the room.  The impact winded her, but sheer force of instinct pushed her to flip herself right way up, allowing her mechanical arm to slow her motion with a trail of sparks as metal met concrete.

Her momentum began to slow, finding her feet again and pushing herself upright. The attack had dazed her, and she struggled to get her bearings and locate Weiss.

A terrified shout penetrated her confused fog, ‘Yang, look out!’  _ Blake?  _ Followed by the sound of her uncle’s voice as he yelled out his warning, voice hoarse. ‘You can’t get hit by that cannon, Yang! Move!’  _ Cannon? _

She spotted the grenade launcher across the garage, turning its attention to nearby victims, Oscar and Ren.  _ But it’s not aiming at me? _ A deep subsonic bass began to slowly ramp up and Yang felt her nerve-endings freeze up as she recognised the sound of danger and the familiar pumping sensation in the pit of her stomach began. She quickly turned her head back and forth to find the source, spotting the large white knight fading away on her left. She felt the tingling of vibration as a violet glow appeared in her periphery and she turned to face the barrel of a cannon, only a few feet away and milliseconds from firing. In that instant, Yang knew even her stored energy from the last hit wouldn’t protect her from a point-blank blast of concentrated aura, and she gritted her teeth.

Yang tried to move her shaky, unbalanced feet, stumbling slightly as the deep echoing rumbling was overlaid with a higher, sparkling sound, and gentle vibrations were overpowered by bone-shaking pulses. Yelling in the distance. Yang watched the light grow brighter. Her blood raced faster; her fight instinct kicking in.

And then the air parted with a slice. With Yang’s sole focus on the purple before her, she barely glimpsed the flash of swirling light on her left as a blur of black and red shot out from behind her. Yang’s was frozen in place, heart pounding. One graceful, almost effortless swipe, and the arc of a red blade collided with the cannon, a trail of sparks in its wake, knocking the weapon’s trajectory upward and forcing the beam of light through the top of the garage’s rear doors. Red eyes glanced back at her.

A twist and then a second swing brought the blade down on a hip joint, loosened by the arma gigas. The paladin buckled and pitched forward, and Raven leapt back from the partially-collapsed machine.

‘I-‘ Yang began, immediately cutting herself off as the purple light began to glint in the barrel once again. She watched vibrant red flames burst from the edges of her mother’s eyes and a pale blue glow traced the outline of her fingers, blossoming into a long, sharp shard of ice. Yang felt the adrenaline of the fight kick her back into motion, heat flooding her body and tickling her extremities as she found her footing and began to run.

She felt her aching limbs and bruised muscles flare up and burn as she started towards the damaged paladin. A crystalline spear flew past her face, leaving a coolness in its trail that clashed with the heat in Yang’s cheeks. The ice embedded itself firmly into the empty cockpit and Yang shot herself forwards with a blast from her gauntlets. With one fist primed and a rush of speed, she concentrated her energy from her aura into a strike at the base of the icicle. The shard was thrust with a nasty cracking sound and blew through the paladin’s wiring as though it had been shot from a gun. The machine collapsed with a heavy groaning, scattering loosened components across the ground. Yang dropped to her feet and fell into a crouch to absorb the impact of her landing.

She turned back to look at her mother, who raised an eyebrow in what Yang thought was amusement. Raven then turned wordlessly and dashed towards Qrow’s fight, releasing a burst of lightning dust with a slice of a yellow blade.

Yang felt herself cool down. And then remember. ‘Oh man, Weiss!’

-

Blake’s heart had momentarily stopped. In the blink of an eye, it had seemed Yang was seconds from death. She struggled to comprehend what had happened, but the resounding cracking and heavy thud of the paladin decisively ended the battle.  She felt her heart skip and shudder as though it needed coaxing to begin pumping again, but the sight of Yang sprinting across the garage to Weiss and Oscar was all the reassurance she was going to get.

There was a relentless clamouring from above where Blake was hanging onto a steel pillar and she looked up to see Ruby had resumed slicing at the turret’s mounting point, the ferocity of her strikes hinting at a similar stress to the one Blake had experienced. Ruby was safely out above the range of her present target, but the other two remaining turrets began to focus their aim on the ferocious little red figure.

‘Blake, can you distract them?’

Blake quickly retracted Gambol Shroud from where it was embedded in the pillar and released a burst of fire into one of the aiming turrets, drawing its attention as she fell. Quickly pushing off on of her shadows, Blake leapt up to Ruby’s turret and the combined force of their blades severed the arm that held the gun to the ceiling. Blake once again grappled her gun and gripped the hilt of Crescent Rose as they both began to drop, Ruby hanging on at the base as they swung back amidst the barrage of bullets.

As they reached the peak of their back swing, like a well-rehearsed trapeze act, Blake swung Crescent Rose and herself forwards with all her strength and launched Ruby at the next turret. Ruby immediately burst into a ball of petals as she rushed through the air and caught Crescent Rose’s blade around the mounting pole, the metal creaking ominously but still holding. Two green blurs split the air one after the other and sliced at the pole. Blake saw Ren leap into her line of sight and catch his weapons, digging the blades firmly into the top of the turret as he aggressively shot into the join. The turret finally gave way and fell with a loud crash.

They all landed with a roll, unable to avoid the various metal components scattered across the floor. Blake cried out in pain as she took the full impact of the fall onto her shoulder, feeling the joint give way; sharp shards of ripped metal dug into her newly injured, and possibly dislocated, arm. She breathed in with a hiss as spikes of pain shot up and down her arm.

‘Blake?’ Ruby anxiously asked.

Blake shook her head, ‘No, no. I’ll be fine.’ She rolled herself over with her uninjured arm, her left aching painfully as she stood and carefully probed the joint. She was grateful to Ren as he dashed away to distract the final turret. ‘I don’t think it’s dislocated. One more to go.’

-

Block, slash, duck, swing, push, block. Jaune could feel his head pounding under the stress, blood rushing around his body to maintain the adrenaline that was keeping him standing. To his side, Nora seemed equally defeated as they struggled to make a solid dent into the swarm of robots before them. His instincts were screaming for them to retreat, but looking behind at the conflict amongst giants, it was evident that they had to hold the line despite the weakness of their auras.

A blade scraped down along his shield with an ear-aching screech and he stabbed forward, ramming his sword into the joins on the machine’s torso and dragging the cabling out sideways as he slashed into the next one, narrowly missing Nora’s hammer as she swung widely and shakily. His gaze narrowed onto the flash of a muzzle directed at Nora’s now unprotected stomach.

Jaune shoved her aside with his shield up but he caught a glimpse of slick red blood across her skin and her shout of pain made his pulse sky-rocketed. ‘Nora?!’ He desperately wanted to turn and check she was okay but the barrage against his shield numbed his arm and he knew it would be worse for both of them if he couldn’t keep his focus. ‘Nora, answer me.’ He forcefully battered the knight back through the doorway and with a spin, cut the legs out from under one that had snuck past into the garage. He briefly caught sight of blood on the floor by his shoe. ‘Nora?!’

He had barely a second to step back before Magnhild came down in a vertical strike that shook the ground beneath him, crushing two approaching knights. Nora had gashes along her right arm and a trail of blood snaked down around her wrist and dripped between her fingers. But he breathed a sigh of relief to see she was otherwise unhurt, though clearly angry.

‘You okay?’

‘I will be once we end this.’

-

‘Dammit Raven. What the hell are you doing here?’

‘Saving your worthless skin. As usual.’

Qrow ducked and pirouetted under a stomping foot, the ground shaking around him. He scowled foully at his sister, who had formed magical hail from the turret shrapnel that coated the floor and was pelting it into the armour of the paladin. Her eyes gleamed with crimson flames.

‘So you really are the Spring Maiden then. Guess I should have realised,’ he said sarcastically before throwing himself into a whirling spin, his scythe forming a steel-edged wheel that rammed repeatedly into the now dented torso.

‘I thought it was obvious, Qrow. Almost as obvious as this trap you walked into.’ She flicked herself into a half-step-strike pattern, switching the direction of her momentum between attacks. ‘Again.’

The heavy vibrations started to ramp up, and Qrow hooked his scythe around the paladin’s arm, forcing the cannon into the ground. He met Raven’s eyes over the machine. ‘This is not the time, Raven.’ The blast from the aura beam cracked the concrete, the deep fractures splitting outward like a spider’s web and spread beneath Raven’s feet. Before she had a chance to lose her footing, she blinked through a portal and Qrow could sense her behind him.

‘You going to be nuisance like that through this whole fight?’

Qrow released his hold on the paladin’s arm, and quickly leapt out of the way of the swinging appendage. ‘Well I can just step back and leave you to it, if you feel so strongly about my semblance.’

Raven gritted her teeth as she took the brunt of the swaying weapon against the blade of her sword. ‘You know, I definitely prefer working without you. Things are a lot easier.’

‘You’re welcome to leave.’ Qrow jumped against a nearby pillar and pushed off, catching the tip of his scythe under a section of armour plating. He shot a couple of rounds off to increase his momentum and pull the metal armour loose. Raven rammed her sword alongside his scythe on the other side of the loosened plate and their combined efforts rent it from the paladin, accompanied by a chorus of popping and groaning steel.

‘You’d clearly be dead without me.’

-

‘Hm, now ten.’

He glanced down at the cup gripped delicately between his fingers. Empty.

‘Time to turn in, I think.’

He swiped up a command prompt on the nearest of his screens and entered a short, decisive code. He stood, straightened out his coat tails and sleeve cuffs, and flicked his displays off.

-

The crosshair jittered around in the commotion; shudderingly struggling to aim on the final turret’s mounting arm, which was wedged from one direction by Ren’s gun, and by Blake’s on the other. Ruby grit her teeth as the ground rumbled amid crashing and banging that echoed around her. Her finger gently squeezed the warm metal of her trigger in a moment of stillness and watched the electrically charged bullet tear through the steel in her scope.

The final turret smashed to the floor, shortly followed by Blake and Ren who neatly rolled into combat stances, though Blake’s a little more unsteady and clearly painful. They quickly analysed the scene around them for their next target. Ruby span around to survey her surroundings.

The garage was littered shrapnel and dust residue. Long cracks dug into the concrete floor and overhead lights flickered ominously. The cacophony of battle was beginning to wear on her ears. But they seemed to be winning.

To her right, Yang, Weiss and Oscar were gradually beating their grenade-launching paladin into submission as its movement became sluggish and its gears whined under the stress. Despite the fact that they appeared equally exhausted and worn, the three powered through their injuries amid explosions that noisily reverberated around the room.

To her left, she watched a thick plate of metal be thrown across the room as it was torn from the body of the other paladin by her uncle’s scythe. A scorching ball of flame filled the cavity in the machine, the trail of which could be traced back to the palm of Raven as her eyes glowed menacingly.

And before her, holding the line of the garage from the hordes swarming in from the rest of the facility, Jaune and Nora were batting back knights. Their movements were slow and jarring and Ruby winced as she imagined the stress their muscles were under.

Ruby bit her lip as she calculated roughly how many knights made up the growing pile of metallic corpses that adorned the entry back into the main facility. An entanglement of dulled grey and arrhythmically fading red glows.

‘Ren, how many knights do you think there were? We need to-‘ Ruby cut herself off as she watched Jaune’s shield sever a knight’s head, the component hitting the floor with a loud boom that filled the room.

‘Ruby?’ She could vaguely hear Blake getting her attention. Nora pinned another knight into the concrete with her hammer, the light rapidly fading from the machine amidst the thunderous bang.

Ruby narrowed her eyes. ‘Metal doesn’t usually make an explosive sound like that… right?’ She focused her attention on the military base’s adjoining wall, and, looking closely, could see the vibrations in the solid construction. Flakes of sandy dust rained down onto the floor and the doors rattled, though not in correlation to the actions in the room. A blinking light caught her eye, halfway up the wall, just above one of the rolling doors that led back into the base. A horizontal cylindrical cannister was locked into place, and Ruby thought she could make out a gauge and piping in its surface.

‘No, we need to get out of here,’ she muttered urgently to herself, her heart rate immediately picking up. She turned back to Blake and Ren who were firing off pot shots into the other conflicts, waiting for Ruby’s instructions. She breathed deeply. ‘EVERYONE!’ She yelled, feeling her voice hoarse from her earlier exertion, ‘We need to get out! NOW!’

‘Ruby, what is it?’ Blake asked. Ruby felt her feet beginning to move as she looked around the room, catching sight of more faintly blinking red dots among the monotonous grey.

‘LET’S GO!’ She could sense she was slowly getting their attention, but the sound of her voice was losing volume in comparison to the explosive racket that was coming from the facility. ‘Jaune, Nora! Get away from the doors.’

‘It’s going to blow,’ Qrow realised suddenly. ‘She’s right, we need to move.’

A deafening crash rang out from behind them, tailed by a rattling chime. Ruby’s heart leapt to her throat as she spun around to face the external doors, fearing their exit was cut off by a nearer explosion. There was a gaping hole where one of the enormous rolling doors had been, clouds of concrete dust gently falling into the opening and a stark beam of sunlight glistened across the array of bolts and shards on the floor. Then she saw the mass of jerking paladin that had been blasted through the door.

‘Nice work, Yang,’ Weiss cheered approvingly. Another ear-splitting crack and a bright flash of light from the facility drew their attention, and Ruby watched in horror as their adjoining wall shook nastily.

‘Let’s go!’ Jaune bellowed, sprinting away from the quaking wall with Nora hot on his heels as the blinking cannisters above the doors began to flicker rapidly. Bullets and lasers followed them from them, unleashed by the unperturbed knights who continued to steadily advance. Ruby hesitated just long enough to let the others get in front of her, unwilling to leave anyone behind, and quickly shielded her eyes from the blinding burst of light that hit her before the wave of heat, noise and crumbling dust.

She turned back to the outer door, feeling the tickling, swift energy that coursed her body over and over like an unhinged conveyor belt. She pushed one foot off the ground, gripped Oscar around the waist where he was trailing behind the others and burst out of the building in a flash of red. A pulse of burning air rippled her cloak and expelled petals out of the building’s enormous new vent, where they swirled up into a gentle tornado and dispersed. Ruby abruptly released her semblance, and she and Oscar tumbled along the slushy, gritty ground.

Yet another blow aggressively shook the outer walls, and the stragglers of their group emerged from the building, panting as they did their best to put distance between them and the unstable structure. Ruby did a quick headcount and sighing with relief as the last of her team, an over-exerted Weiss leaning heavily on an unsteady Blake, brought up the rear.

In an instant, the outer walls splintered and blew out, huge slabs of solid concrete were violently flung outwards across the outdoor clearing. Ruby’s eyes widened in fear as she realised how close Weiss and Blake still were as chunks of rock as large as vehicles hurtled towards them, barely able to draw enough breath to shout out a warning. She could see Weiss raising a hand to draw a glyph, her movements too sluggish to be fast enough, while Blake winced under the weight of her teammate on her injured shoulder, desperately trying to pull them away.

A burst of yellow collided heavily with their forms, knocking them across the open gravel out of the concrete’s trajectory. Yang cracked the oncoming boulder with her fist but the impact seemed to reverberate through her, and her aura shuddered and fragmented as Yang listlessly dropped to her knees, fighting for consciousness as another explosion racked the building, much closer than the last. Ruby dug deep into her twitching pool of energy and began to press forward as debris was spat out of the enormous cavity that was once the garage. She realised with a numbing terror that the exertion of the fight had left her drained and she fought internally to work her aura into the frenzy that could propel her to her sister as the remnants of the outer wall began to collapse above Yang’s semi-conscious form.

Masses of concrete tipped off their precarious perch on the wall and began whistling to the ground. Ruby balled her fists and pulled air deep into the bottom of her lungs, any technique she could think of to focus the remains of her strength into her aura. Helplessness drove a wave of ice cold fear over her as Yang gently collapsed amid a hail of rock.

-

A blink of swirling red that danced at the back of her eyes. Yang’s prone form shimmered before her, solidifying on the damp icy ground. The weight unfamiliar in her arms. She could feel the oncoming shadow prick at the back of her neck, an instinctive warning of impending impact.

A quick breath and an intangible pull that she could feel outside her body. A directing, tugging sensation that drove her forwards to somewhere that felt like home.

A swing. A blink of swirling red and another familiar face shimmered and grew solid.

-

Her limbs felt lethargic and slow as she gradually came to. Yang scrunched her eyes tightly shut, trying to reach up and rub them to ease the pounding in her head. She was surprised to realise someone had disconnected her right arm and there was a gentle pressure on her left.

‘Yang?’ She blinked her eyes open at the sound of Blake’s voice, and pressure squeezing slightly on her fingers. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Mmm yeah, I think so.’ Her vision swam briefly, and then cleared to reveal a slanted brownish roof above her. She frowned. ‘What happened?’

‘You were knocked out as the building came down. We all drove back to the mining village in the van.’ Ruby’s voice filled in the gaps and Yang turned her head to the rest of the room, the throbbing beginning to ebb away. They appeared to be in a cosy one-roomed building, consisting of only the bed which she occupied and an unoriginal dining set. Her team had drawn the plain wooden chairs to her bedside and had clearly been waiting for her to wake up. Glancing down at herself, she surveyed the bruising on the visible skin and the fine layer of dust and grime on her clothes. Her scrutiny halted when her gaze landed on her left hand, lightly gripped by another. She looked up at a concerned Blake, whose cheeks lightly flushed when she realised what Yang had noticed. Yang tentatively curled her fingers into the grip, and Blake didn’t pull away.

Yang twisted her neck to look beyond the foot of her bed and saw Ren, Oscar, Nora and Jaune sitting on the floor of the kitchenette, exhausted but not seriously hurt. She could hear a heavy wind buffeting about outside the building.

‘It was pretty dumb of you to try and take that hit for us,’ Weiss said pointedly with a sniff, ‘But it was appreciated.’

Hazy memories came floating back to the surface of Yang’s mind and she grinned as she pulled herself upright. ‘Yeah well, the two of you were looking pretty fragile.’ Blake snorted but gingerly tested the motion of her shoulder. ‘Someone had to step in a save you.’

‘Look who’s talking,’ Weiss retorted snarkily, but there was a playful twinkle in her eye at their jibes.

‘Your mom saved you,’ Ruby supplied at Yang’s puzzled expression. The information didn’t make her any less confused.

‘Oh.’ She glanced around the room. ‘Where’s uncle Qrow?’ she asked hesitantly, the second question left unsaid. Blake’s fingers tightened against her own, and Yang let out a steadied breath.

‘Your mom and uncle are arguing outside,’ Jaune replied weakly from the floor, his head resting in the crook of his elbow on his knees. Yang paused to listen. Angry voices blew by on the howling wind. She couldn’t quite make out the words but the inflection was clear to hear as they shouted vitriol at each other.

‘I hope they don’t start fighting,’ Nora murmured quietly.

‘What would we even do if they did?’ Ren asked rhetorically. If not injured, they were all at the very least exhausted and in no condition to break up a brawl between the significantly more experienced fighters.

Yang slipped off the bed, reluctantly releasing Blake’s hand, and walked over to the window, only slightly unsteady. Outside, she could see the gale whipping around snowflakes in the darkening afternoon sun. Beyond them, her mother and uncle stood in the open carport of a home just up the street, seemingly disinterested in the cold. They gestured wildly, and frequently towards the cabin their little defeated band now rested in.

‘Do you know what they’re fighting about?’ Yang asked, glancing back at the group.

‘No,’ Blake said quietly, coming up behind her to place a warm hand against her shoulder. Yang leant back into the touch and wondered dimly if Blake was searching for her own comfort too. Blake’s voice continued, closer than expected, and Yang was almost sure she could feel the breath against her cheek. ‘Your mother never came in, and Qrow went out to talk to her. She seemed… I don’t know.’ 

‘Upset maybe?’ Ruby suggested uncertainly. ‘And uncle Qrow was pretty wary.’

The door suddenly slammed against the wall as it was thrown open and they all jumped. Qrow stalked in angrily.

‘Pack your things. We need to keep moving.’

‘Uh, where?’ Ruby asked tentatively.

‘We’ll just keep driving up the road-‘

‘Of course.’ Yang jumped a second time as Raven appeared in the doorway, forcefully banging it shut behind her and leaning against it with a body language dripping in sarcastic derision. ‘Why wouldn’t you use this as an opportunity to run head first into the unknown?’

The sound of Qrow’s teeth grinding was audible to the whole room. ‘Raven-‘

‘Maybe you’ll run into a pack of Goliaths while you’re all weak and wounded. Perhaps another ambush? Would that be enough of a near death experience to keep you excited, Qrow?’

‘I thought I made it pretty clear that I wasn’t interested in hearing any more of your damn unhelpful opinions, Raven,’ Qrow growled with thinly veiled fury in his tone.

‘You never are,’ Raven spat back with as much vigour. ‘No matter how many times I am proved right, you continue to press forward blindly and regardless of consequences.’

‘We don’t have the luxury of choice that you do, Raven.’ Qrow slammed his fist into the dining room table. ‘No one else is going to step up and stop Salem. We don’t have the option of abandoning family and friends when its gets too dangerous.’ Yang swallowed hard. No one had ever spoken so openly about what had happened. No one had ever spoken about it with more than a matter-of-fact tone. Blake’s hand dropped warily to Yang’s waist, as though to steady her. 

‘Oh, grow up and get over it!’ Raven’s eyes were burning. Yang’s head was darting back and forth between them like a game of tennis, entirely unprepared for dealing with this situation. ‘I made the choice not to follow a fool into a war he proved he was unfit to wage. There’s more than one way to skin a damn cat, Qrow, but you seem unable to even identify the creature unless Ozpin points it out to you.’

‘He’s the only one with the knowledge and ability to fight Salem! Do  _ you _ have centuries of experience for us to fall back on? How else are we supposed to know what we’re up against and how to fight it?’

‘And  _ do _ you know what you’re up against? You’ve been at his heels for twenty years now, surely you’ve ingratiated yourself enough for him to divulge the many secrets he’s been keeping?’

‘Um,’ Oscar spoke up hesitantly, ‘he has something he’d like to say-‘

‘Well, you can tell him,’ Raven interrupted, her voice shaking with anger, ‘that if he so much as breathes in my direction he’ll be looking for a new host before he fills his lungs.’

‘Always straight to threats. Complain that he’s hiding things but won’t even let him talk.’ Qrow mocked, though his tone was too bitter for it to be effective.

‘His actions talk louder,’ Raven replied with narrowed eyes.

‘Ozpin has kept the relics safe for centuries. And you remember as well as I do, all the victories he led us to.’

‘Like Beacon?’ Raven laughed, ‘Like Haven? Like Summer?’ Ruby and Yang sharply inhaled at the mention of their mother, but neither Qrow nor Raven were paying any attention. ‘Like that girl Cinder killed on the tower? Like all of his precious maidens? Honestly Qrow, I’m struggling to remember any kind of victory that outweighs the losses.’

‘That’s  _ enough _ , Raven!’ Qrow shouted, ‘You want to go cower in some corner of Remnant? Go. We’ll take the relic to Atlas and keep it secure with the Winter Maiden. We’ll stop Salem’s plans in Atlas, whatever they might be.’ He turned his back to them and muttered quietly, ‘But this would all be easier if you were on our side.’

The stormy expression on Raven’s face gave way to sheer disbelief. ‘You… ?’ Yang couldn’t read the emotion in her mother’s eyes, but she could see cogs turning. After a long moment Raven sighed. ‘I can get you into Atlas.’

‘What?’ Yang blurted in surprise. Qrow tilted his head back towards his sister.

Raven sighed again and rubbed the bridge of her nose. ‘You’re never going to listen to me anyway. At least I can get you into Atlas safely.’ She looked back up and Qrow turned with suspicion on his face. ‘But then I’m done. You’ve had plenty of chances to pick a different path and I knew eighteen years ago that there was no point reasoning with you any longer. So this is my last contribution to Ozpin’s crusade.’

Qrow remained stonily silent, and Ruby piped up in his place. ‘Uh, thank you. For this, and for saving us back at that base.’

Raven turned her calculating gaze onto Ruby, who, to her credit, didn’t shrink away. Without another word she retreated to the door and released a gust of cold air into the house. As she stepped out, Raven paused and tilted her head towards Yang. ‘I want to talk to you.’

Yang furtively glanced at the door that her mother was now holding open for her and, with only slight hesitation, walked out into the snow. She heard the group’s murmurs begin as the door shut behind them. Yang wrapped her arms around her body as she adjusted to the temperature change, half-wishing Blake had followed her out, and leant back against an awning post, conspicuously distant from Raven.

‘You, uh, aren’t going to kidnap me, right?’ Yang joked weakly, immediately regretting opening her mouth. Raven’s eyebrows raised in bemusement.

‘I supposed it would stop you getting into so much trouble. And this is an ideal opportunity.’ Yang furrowed her brow as her mother mused on the pros and cons of the suggestion.

‘I wasn’t being serious.’

Raven snorted. ‘Obviously.’ Her face grew sombre as she caught Yang’s eye. ‘Atlas is a city of spies, Yang. At every level.’

Yang shifted her weight and shrugged uncertainly. ‘Okay…?’

Raven stepped forward and rested both hands on Yang’s shoulders, the closest they’d been since Haven’s vault. And before that, since she was born. ‘Everyone is always lying to you. You need to find the truth yourself.’

The confusion that would usually have wracked Yang into a nervous, high-energy wreck was much calmer now. She felt inquisitive and uncertain, a little jittery. But she didn’t feel as though her insides were trying to tear her apart.

‘Yang, your elders don’t always deserve respect, and those with experience are not necessarily wiser. Use your own judgement.’

Yang nodded firmly, the warm weight of her mother’s hands on her shoulders satisfying a life-long yearning.

‘And watch out for your sister,’ Raven added quickly after a brief pause. Yang’s eyes narrowed in confusion, but she didn’t say anything in response. ‘I’m going to go.’

Yang felt the hands slip away and couldn’t really help the words that spilled out of her mouth. ‘I want to know you.’ Raven looked back over her shoulder. ‘Please?’

‘Hm. Someday.’ Yang felt a gentle relief waft over her. It wasn’t a solid answer, but it wasn’t a rejection either. ‘One more thing, Yang.’ She glanced back up. ‘Your father is on his way to Atlas as well.’

Yang’s mouth dropped slightly, and Raven morphed with a strange twisting of matter and flew off into the sky, buffeted around by the wind.

-

One day later and a brilliantly bright portal tore open the room. Team RWBY shared a triumphant look as Qrow stepped forwards.

‘This is it guys. Let’s go.’

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End of alternate Volume 6!
> 
> When I was writing this, I had originally vaguely planned out a sequel but I don't think I will ever come to fruition, especially now that the show has diverged away from this plot so much. I'm thinking of possible doing a (very) short epilogue to hint at what was going to come, but we'll see.
> 
> Please let me know what you think of the chapter and the whole fic in general, whether good or bad. I would love feedback on what worked and didn't work.
> 
> Thank you for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think!


End file.
